Bölüm 101: Genç Bayan

Wu Klanı

Ancak, Zu An'ın düşünceleri kısa sürede aritmetik sınıfına geri getirildi

Gökyüzü sınıfında olacaktı. İlk defa gidiyordu

bir görünüm oluşturmak için. Sınıfa girmek normalde sadece vurgulamazdı

ne kadar olağanüstüydü.

Bir çıkış yolu için beynini rafa kaldırdıktan sonra, Zu An'ın gözleri parladı. Yoluna devam etti

İdari binaya gitti, ama oradaki personel ona Shang'ın

Liuyu ofiste değil, yatakhanesindeydi. Böylece, Zu An yapmaya başladı

personel yurduna doğru yola çıktı.

Bunu gören ofisteki personel onunla alay etmekten kendini alamadı.

"Yine Öğretmen Shang'ın üzerine çullanan bir başkası, ha?"

"Öğretmen Shang'ın cazibesi gerçekten başka bir seviyede. Nasıl olduğunu bile görmedin mi?

Disiplin Ustası Lu da onun dikkatini çekmeye mi çalışıyor?"

"Bir dakika, Lu De'nin zaten bir karısı yok mu?"

"Orta yaşlı bir adamın ikinci baharı. Eh, anladın."

"Disiplin Ustası Lu'nun bir hamle yapması bir şey, ama bu kadar küçük bile

Adam da Öğretmen Shang'ı mahkemeye vermek istiyor. Gerçekten yerini öğrenmeli."

"Neden ona Shang Hoca'nın kimsenin girmesine izin vermediğini söylemedin

onun avlusu? Bu adamın çabası boşuna sonuçlanır."

"Hah. Sadece bir Sarı sınıf öğrencisi aslında öğretmen olmayı başarır

bazı bağlantıları veya başka bir şeyi çekerek. Onu yapmak iyi olurdu

biraz acı çekiyorum."

...

Dünyada bir şaka olarak düşünüldüğü gerçeğinden habersizdi.

Ofiste, Zu An personelin yurduna koştu. Takip eden

Personelin talimatıyla, Shang Liuyu'nun evine kadar koştu.

Tok tok tok, Zu An kapısını çaldı.

Aynı zamanda, denemek için gizlice anahtar jetonunu çıkardı, ama

Rezidans açılma belirtisi göstermedi. Gerçekten de, hiçbir yolu yoktu

Akademi yurtta böyle basit bir hata yapardı.

"Kim o?"

Avludan uyuşuk bir ses duyuldu. Soğuk bir kenarı vardı

sahibinin sabırsızlığını aktardı.

"Büyük kız kardeş Shang, benim!" diye cevapladı Zu An.

Doğal olarak, ona diğerleri gibi Öğretmen Shang demezdi. Bu olurdu

çok resmi ve mesafeli olun!

"Beni mi arıyordun?" diye sordu Shang Liuyu.

Zu An, önündeki sıkıca kapalı kapıya baktı ve ne olduğunu merak etti.

bununla kastediliyor. Bağlarımız göz önüne alındığında, benim için kapıyı bile açmayacak mısın?

Yine de, sormak için bir iyiliği olan kişi olduğunu düşünerek, karar verdi

Dürüstçe cevap ver, "Bana yardım etmesi için abla Shang'a ihtiyacım olan bir melodim var

oyna."

Kapı açılmadan önce avluda bir dakikalık bir sessizlik vardı.

küçük. Shang Liuyu'nun serin sesi duyuldu, "İçeri gel."

Zu An fazla düşünmeden içeri girdi ve Shang'ı buldu.

Liuyu'nun ikametgahı onunkinden çok daha pitoresk görünüyordu. Hatta vardı

avlusunda berrak suyla dolu bir havuz vardı ve altında parıldayan bir havuz

güneş ışığı.

Özel yüzme havuzu mu? Ne kadar abartılı!

Zu An bunu Jiang Luofu'ya şikayet etmesi gerektiğini hissetti.

ikisi arasındaki tedavi farkı. 7.500.000 gümüş tael

harcadığı paraya gitmemeliydi!

"Yeni bir melodi mi buldun?" nazik bir ses duyuldu.

Zu An arkasını döndü ve gözleri hemen parladı.

Shang Liuyu, köprücük kemiğini ortaya çıkaran gevşek bir elbise giymişti. O

Islak saçlarını silmekle meşguldü, ama hala biraz su damlacıkları vardı

Sanki daha yeni banyo yapmış gibi cildini takip ediyordu. Elbisenin uzunluğu

bacaklarının güzel eğriliğini ortaya çıkaran mükemmel uzunluktaydı. Onu

Tırnaklar açık pembe bir tonda boyandı ve bu da dikkat çekti

ince parmakları. Yatmadan önce saçlarını rasgele yana doğru fırlattı

bir ağacın altında asılı bir rattan sandalyede.

Tembel bir hisle sordu, "Buraya kadar sadece boşluk bırakmak için gelmedin

bana, değil mi?"

"Ah, elbette hayır! Benim için çalmana ihtiyacım olan bir melodim var."

Zu An'ın yüzü onun huzurunda kırmızıya döndü. Çoğu kadın, karşılaştığında

Bir erkeğin değerlendirici bakışlarıyla, ya utanır ya da öfkelenirdi,

Ama Shang Liuyu'nun gözleri sanki çoktan varmış gibi umursamaz bir hava taşıyordu

geçmiş ölümlü arzuları gördü. Onun rahat tavrı Zu An'ı utandırdı

bunun yerine kendisi hakkında.

"Bu hangi melodi?" diye sordu Shang Liuyu merakla.

Gerçekte, ona yaklaşmak için bu bahaneyi kullanan birçok insan vardı.

İyi melodilere düşkün olduğu bir sır değildi, ama çoğu

ilgisini bile çekemedi. Ancak, Zu An melodisi çaldı

çardakta onu şaşırttı, sahip olduğu en derin duygulara dokundu

kalbinin dibinde gizlenmiş.

Müziğin tipik olarak nasıl çalındığından farklı bir melodiydi

Bu dünya, ancak müziğin yolu bir ortak noktayı paylaştı - bir

kişinin ruhu. Onu merakla dolduran çaldığı melodiydi ve

Bu genç adama karşı iyi niyet. Birinin nasıl olduğunu anlayamadı.

Genç olduğu gibi böyle güzel ve duygusal bir oyun oynayabilecekti

melodi.

"Bu melodinin adı 'Kumarbazların Tanrısı!'

Zu An nasıl sükunetli bir görünüm kazanabileceğini düşünüyordu, bu yüzden

Doğal olarak, filmlerde gördüğü tüm havalı girişlere döndü. İçinde

Sonunda, bir sonuca vardı. Suave girişi BGM olmadan yapamaz!

Ne yazık ki, bu dünyada ses kayıt cihazları yoktu. Muhtemelen

içeri girerken kendi BGM'sini oynuyor. Bu sadece korkunç derecede garip görünürdü

ve iç karartıcı. Onun için oynayacak birini bulması gerekiyordu. İn

tanıdığı herkes, ona yardım edebilecek tek kişi

Bu iyilik sadece Shang Liuyu'ydu.

Kuşkusuz, bu güzel öğretmeni bir kez bulmak için de bir bahaneydi

daha.

"Kumarbazların Tanrısı mı?" Shang Liuyu'nun gözlerinde tuhaf bir bakış vardı

adını duydum. "Sana oldukça yakışıyor gibi geliyor. Melodi nasıl

git mi?"

Açıkçası, Zu An'ın nasıl 7.500.000 gümüş tael kazandığını da duymuştu.

Silverhook Casino.

"Önce bir kez göstereyim." Zu An melodinin nasıl olduğunu hatırlayabiliyordu.

kabaca gitti, ama oynamak farklı bir konuydu. Sonuçta, BGM

Önceki dünyasında tek bir enstrümanla çalınmadığını duymuştu.

Dikkatlice sentezlenmiş birden fazla enstrümandan oluşan bir melodiydi

beraber.

Başlangıçta, Shang Liuyu konuyu çok fazla düşünmedi, ama Zu An en kısa sürede

Melodiyi mırıldanmaya başladı, onu dikkatle dinlemek için dik oturdu.

Zu An melodiyi mırıldanmayı bitirdikten sonra, ona bir

Yüzünde endişeli bir ifadeyle, "Nasıl?" diye sordu.

Shang Liuyu konuşmadan önce derin bir nefes aldı, "Bu melodi koşum takımı

Kişinin kalbini tutkuyla yarışmaya zorlayan bir tür sihir. Hissettim ki

ondan titriyor. Kulağa biraz canavar adamların savaş şarkılarına benziyor, ama

bundan farklı. Bunu nasıl başardın?"

"Ahahaha, bu şimdilik önemli değil. Yapıp yapamayacağını bilmek istiyorum

Tam olarak oyna," diye sordu Zu An endişeyle.

Shang Liuyu'nun beğenip beğenmeyeceği konusunda endişeli değildi, ama

düzgün bir şekilde taklit edip edemeyeceği. Sonuçta, popülaritesi zaten vardı

önceki hayatında sınanmıştır.

"Bu melodi biraz tuhaf. Bir deneyeyim. Bir kez mırıldanabilir misin

benim için daha fazlası mı?" Shang Liuyu ondan sıra dışı bir enstrüman çıkardı

biraz arp gibi görünen rezidans. Arp bir malzemeden yapılmıştır

yeşim gibi parıldayan bir dokuya sahipti ve soluk mavi bir ışık yayıyordu.

Shang Liuyu'nun zarif parmakları arpın üzerindeki telleri tıngırdattı ve üretti.

arplardan çok farklı bir ses. Müzik yelpazesi

enstrüman çok daha geniş görünüyordu ve

Önceki hayatındaki enstrümanlar bunu yapamazdı.

Shang Liuyu az önce duyduğu melodiyi parmakları gibi düşündü

'arp' boyunca hareket etmeye başladı. Emin olmadığı kısımlar için,

açıklığa kavuşturmak için Zu An'a dönecekti. Yavaş ama emin adımlarla, Tanrı'nın

Kumarbazlar BGM, yetiştirme dünyasında yeniden yaratılıyordu.

"Neden aniden bu melodiyi çalmam için bana ihtiyacın var?" Shang Liuyu yavaşça

Melodi tamamlanmaya yaklaştıkça rahatlamaya başladı, bu yüzden Zu'ya döndü

Bir ve meraktan sordu.

Bu soruya Zu An cevap verdi, "Söylemeye gerek yok, bunu benim için kullanmak

kendi fon müziği..."

Bir aritmetik dersini nasıl yürüteceğini açıklamaya başladı.

Daha sonra gökyüzü sınıfı.

Shang Liuyu cevabına kıkırdadı. "Kesinlikle çok çaba sarf ettiniz.

Chu First Miss'in senin hakkındaki izlenimini değiştirmek için."

"Bu sadece onun için değil. İlk defa öğretmen olarak bir ders veriyorum,

bu da girişimi daha da önemli kılıyor. Ah doğru, sence ben miyim

biraz makyaj yapmalı mı? Bir çift gözlük takmayı düşünüyor musun?

beni daha olgun gösterir mi?"

Shang Liuyu cevap vermeden önce, aniden genç bir kadının sesi

Kulağa "Bunu biliyordum! Shang Liuyu, burada saklanıyorsun!"

Sesin net ve melodik bir niteliği vardı, ama ne yazık ki

insanı rahatsız eden baskıcı bir tonu vardı.

Zu An bakışlarını çevirdi. Unuttuğu kapının yanında dururken

Daha önce kırmızı giyinmiş bir kadın duruyordu. Gösterişli bir incisi vardı

boynuna asılı kolye, pürüzsüzlüğünü vurguladı

ten renginin yanı sıra bileğinin etrafında bir yeşim bilezik.

Hızlı bir süpürmeyle, kadının giydiği tüm aksesuarların

pahalıydı.

"Bu kadın soyulmaktan korkmuyor mu, servetini açıkça göstererek

Bu mu?" diye mırıldandı Zu An nefesinin altından.

Kadın oldukça abartılı bir şekilde giyinmesine rağmen, vermedi

bir nouveau zengininin kaba kokusundan. Kuşkusuz, yine de, sadece olabilir

Burada oyundaki güzel görünümü.

"Öyle misin?" Shang Liuyu kapının önünde duran kadına baktı

şüpheli gözlerle.

O kadının öfkesi yoğunlaştı. "Shang Liuyu, beni tanımıyor musun?! Ben vardı

Daha önce derslerinizden birini aldım!"

Shang Liuyu sakince cevapladı, "Hatırlama zahmetine girmiyorum

öğrencilerimin her birinin adı.

Kadının ateşini frenliyor gibi görünen bir soğukkanlılık havası yayıyordu

öfke, ikincisini harekete geçirecek yer bırakmadan.

O zaman bir adam ayağa kalktı ve kadını tanıttı, "Bu

Güneş Pınarı Dükü'nün Wu klanının ilk hanımı Wu Qing."

Hemen ardından başka bir adam öne çıktı ve ekledi, "Yarışta beşinci sırada yer alıyor.

Tatlım Sıralaması. Öğretmen Shang, nasıl duymamış olabilirsin

Onun kadar ünlü biri mi?"

"Lanet olsun, Wu Qing?" diye bağırdı Zu An. Hiç kimsenin hayal etmediğini hayal etmişti

böyle garip bir isme sahip olurdu. [1]

Ancak, bu sözleri üçlünün hemen başlarını çevirmelerine neden oldu.

onu. Wu Qing yüzünde biraz korkunç bir ifadeyle sordu, "Ne yaptın

sadece söyle mi?"

Wu Qing'i +233 Rage için başarıyla trolledin!

Zu An az önce söylediklerini geç fark etti, bu yüzden çabucak açıklığa kavuşturdu, "Hayır

hayır, ünlem işareti olarak söylüyorum. Seni sikmek istediğimi kastetmedim ya da

Hiçbir şey... Gah! Her neyse, düşündüğün şey bu değil!"

Açıklamasıyla durumu daha da kötüleştirdiğini hissetti.

"Bayan Wu'dan yararlanmak için böyle aşağılık kelimeler kullanmaya nasıl cüret edersin!" Bu

Kadının yanındaki iki uşak Zu An'a inanılmaz bir bakışla baktı

onu azarlamaya başladıklarında yüzleri.

"Adını söyle! Böyle davranmaya cesaret etmek için hangi klandan olduğunuzu görmek istiyorum

!" Wu Qing'in yüzü sanki bir volkanın eşiğinde bir volkan gibi canlı kaldı.

bir patlama.

1. Wu Qing 'Kalpsiz' için bir eş anlamlıdır.

Bölüm 102: Söylentiler

"Ben ünlü Shi Kun'dan başkası değilim!" Zu An göğsünü yumruklarken

gururla ilan etti.

Shang Liuyu az önce duyduklarından şaşkına dönmüştü. Bu adam

düşündüğümden çok daha utanmaz.

"Shi Kun? Sen Shi klanının Altıncı Genç Efendisi misin?" diye sordu Wu Qing.

"Güzel bir yüzün var, ama görünüşe göre sen sadece utanmaz birisin

, ha?"

Zu An onaylayarak başını salladı, "Bu doğru, Shi Kun utanmaz bir!

Bu gerçeği aklınıza getirin!"

Wu Qing şaşırmıştı. Karşı tarafın bunu böyle itiraf etmesini beklemiyordu

Samimiyetle. "Görünüşe göre hala biraz öz farkındalığın var."

Yoldan saptırılmak üzere olduğunu görünce, iki uşak hızla

Ona fısıldayarak hatırlattı, "Genç hanımefendi, bu adam Zu An."

Zu An son zamanlarda akademide büyük bir kargaşaya neden olmuştu

Birkaç gün, bu yüzden onu tanımayan neredeyse hiç kimse yoktu. Wu Qing

sadece onu tanıyamadı çünkü elleri başkalarıyla doluydu.

meseleler ve akademiye gelemedim.

"Bana yalan söylemeye cesaretin var mı?" Wu Qing'in yüzü hemen öfkeyle kızardı.

Sadece daha önce nasıl bir aptal olarak algılandığını düşünmek onu öfkelendirdi

cehennem gibi öfke.

Wu Qing'i +600 Rage için başarıyla trolledin!

"Hayatın boyunca daha önce hiç kandırıldın mı?" diye sordu Zu An

Merakla.

"Tabii ki hayır! Kim bana yalan söylemeye cesaret edebilir?" Wu Qing içeri girdi

yanıt.

"Ah, bu neden bu kadar saf olduğunu açıklıyor."

"..." Wu Qing.

Wu Qing'i +666 Rage için başarıyla trolledin!

Wu Qing konuşmadan önce kendini sakinleştirmek için derin bir nefes aldı, "Yani,

Chu Chuyan'ın seçtiği adam sen misin?"

Zu An şaşırmıştı. "Chuyan'la yakın mısın?"

İkisi yakın arkadaşsa, bu onun için çok uygun görünmüyordu

Wu Qing'den Öfke puanı kazanıyor olmak.

"Tabii ki yakınız. Birbirimize daha yakın olamayız!" diye küçümsedi

Wu Qing. "Onun olarak hiçbir işe yaramaz birini seçtiğini duydum

Kocam ve bunun sadece abartı olduğunu düşündüm. Ancak,

Şimdi bakınca, söylentilerde bazı gerçekler var gibi görünüyor. Bir

Hiçbir şey için iyi, sen de utanmaz bir. Şaşılacak bir şey yok

Brightmoon City'de çok hor görülüyorsun!"

Bu sözleri duyan Zu An rahat bir nefes aldı. İyi ki varlar.

birbirine yakın değiller. Şimdi bunu düşündüğüne göre, Chu klanı

Klanlar Turnuvası'nın öncekinden farklı olacağını belirtti

çünkü Yuan klanının onu destekleyen bir dükal klanı vardı ve dükalık klanı

Wu klanı gibi görünüyordu.

Bu yüzden Wu Qing'e doğru yürüdü ve onu dikkatlice değerlendirdi. İtiraf etmek zorunda kaldı

Bu kadının korkunç öfkesine rağmen, güzel bir şeye sahip olduğunu

görünüş. "Genç Bayan Wu, utanmaz biri olduğumu söyleyip durdunuz

, ama ben nasıl herhangi bir şekilde sapkın davrandım? Ya da sizin

Zihin bu tür şeylerle mi dolu?"

Bir adamla bu kadar yakın durmak Wu Qing'i telaşlandırdı. O

Çabucak geri çekildi ve "Sadece ağzını dinle! Başka neler var

utanmaz bir perper olmasaydın olabilir miydin..."

Zu An'ı azarlamak istedi, ama az önce söylediklerini hatırlayarak,

Birdenbire kendini kelimeler için bir kayıp içinde buldu. Fark etti ki, eğer olsaydı

Zu An'ın bir olduğu konusunda ısrar etmek, onun bunu barındırdığı anlamına gelirdi.

zihninde bir tür düşünce.

Genç hanımefendilerinin buradaki kavgayı kaybettiğini görünce, yanındaki iki adam

Wu Qing hızlıca onu desteklemek için öne çıktı. "Zu An, nasıl cüret edersin

Genç hanımefendimizi aydınlatmak mı?"

Zu An, önünde duran iki adama ilgiyle bakarken sordu,

"Siz ikinizin kim olduğunuzu öğrenebilir miyim?"

Soldaki adam gururla başını kaldırdı ve şöyle dedi: "Ben Pan Long'um

Sunspring Şehrinin Pan klanından!"

Sağdaki adam da boynunu uzattı ve konuştu, "Ben Fu Feng'im.

Sunspring Şehrinin Fu klanı!"

Pan klanı ve Fu klanı önde gelen klanlardı, bu yüzden ikisi de

başlarını dik tutabiliyorlardı. Onlarla rekabet edemediler

Büyük Wu klanı ve Chu klanı, ama en azından onlarla eşittiler.

Zheng klanı, Yuan klanı ve Wang klanı.

İkisi Wu Qing ile birlikte büyümüştü ve onun tarafından dehşete düşürülmüşlerdi

ilk toplantıdan itibaren güzellik. Bunun da ötesinde, Wu klanı bir dükalıktı

klan da, ikisinin de umutla ona yaltaklanmalarına neden oldu.

bir gün onun iyiliğini kazanabilir ve daha yükseğe çıkabilir.

Zu An 'zorbalık yaptığında' bu kadar sert tepki vermelerinin nedeni de buydu

Wu Qing.

"Pan Long, Fu Feng?" dedi Zu An düşünceli bir şekilde. "Harika isimler.

İkiniz için de mükemmel bir şekilde uygun geliyorlar!" [1]

Zu An cübbesinden bir defter çıkardı ve birkaç kelime yazdı.

Sonra onları iki adama gösterdi ve sordu, "Bu Pan ve bu mu?

Fu?" [2]

"Urk, öyle değil. Bu şekilde yazılmış." İkisi bilinçaltında gitti

Zu An'ın akışıyla birlikte yazısını düzeltti. Ancak, yakında

bir şeylerin yanlış olduğunu fark ettim. "Bir dakika, neden yapmaya çalışıyorsun

isimlerimizi hatırlıyor musun?"

"Hm? Çok fazla bir şey değil," Zu An sakince cevapladı. "Başarısız olmayı düşünüyorum

aritmetik sınıfınız için siz. İsimlerini unutabileceğimden korkuyorum, bu yüzden

önceden not almak iyi olur."

"..." Uzun Tava.

"..." Fu Feng.

Bu da ne! Bu gücün kötüye kullanılması değil midir?

Ayrıca Wu Qing sonunda şaşkınlığından kurtuldu. Bakıldığı yer

Yanındaki iki taşlaşmış adam, kaşlarını çatarak sordu, "İkisi nedir

Sizden korkuyor musunuz? Bizim puanlarımıza karar verme yetkisine sahip değil

Zaten aritmetik notlar!"

İkisi Wu Qing'e döndü ve gözyaşları içinde bir bakışla konuştu.

yüzler, "Aslında, onun yetkisi var. O bizim yeni atanan kişimiz

aritmetik öğretmeni."

"..." Wu Qing.

Siz aptallar! Neden bana önceden söylemedin?!

Zu An gülümsedi ve konuştu, "Genç hanımefendi, bunu yaptığınızı fark ettiniz mi?

Sahip olmamanız gereken birini rahatsız ettiniz mi? Şu anda benden özür dilersen,

daha iyi bir adam olmayı düşünebilir ve suçun için seni affedebilir."

Wu Qing öfkeyle dişlerini sıktı, "Sadece aritmetik öğretmeni nasıl bir şey

Hepiniz için görkemli bir şekilde mi davranıyorsunuz? İlk olarak, aritmetik önemli değildir

Gökyüzü sınıfından öğrenciler!"

Wu Qing'i +233 Rage için başarıyla trolledin!

"Daha az önemli, ama senin gibi bir dükalık klanının gururlu genç bir hanımefendisi

Eğer onun dersinde başarısız olsaydın, sanırım sen de dünyanın gülünç yüzü olurdun.

Bütün akademi, değil mi?" Zu An sinsice gülümsedi.

Wu Qing yutkundu. Karşı taraf haklıydı. Rekabetçi bir çizgisi vardı

Bu yüzden Chu Chuyan ile rekabet etmeye kararlıydı.

herşey. Eğer bir derste başarısız olursa, bu onun için büyük bir darbe olurdu

gurur.

"O zaman beni başarısızlığa uğratmaya cesaret ediyorum! Bilmelisin ki babam

Sunspring Duke. Akademi bile onu hafife almamaya cüret ediyor!" Sonra

İlk telaş, Wu Qing kısa sürede sakinleşti ve hiçbir şey olmadığını fark etti.

Zu An'dan korkmasının nedeni.

"Bu, diğer öğretmenler için de geçerli olabilir, çünkü kariyerleri burada tehlikede.

Ancak, ben sadece geçici bir öğretmenim. Bir keresinde kraliyet sarayı bir

öğretmenim bitti, görevlerimden kurtulacağım. Burada geleceğim yok

Her neyse, öyleyse korkacak neyim var?"

Zu An, ofis politikasının önceki dünyasında nasıl işlediğini düşündü. Gibi

Kariyer ilerlemesi beklentisi olmadığı sürece, buna gerek yoktu.

Birinin üstünden korkması gerekir.

Wu Qing şaşkına dönmüştü. Eğer Zu An gerçekten kendi geleceğini umursamıyorsa,

ona gerçekten yapabileceği hiçbir şey olmayacaktı. Ama aynı zamanda, o

Ondan özür dilemek için başını eğmesi de mümkün değildi. Yani, o yapabilirdi

Sadece başını çevir ve harrumph, "Hmph! Aramaya gelmedim

bugün sen!"

Dikkatini Shang Liuyu'ya çevirdi ve konuştu: "Shang Liuyu, bu

puanlarımızı belirleme zamanı!"

Shang Liuyu Wu Qing'e gülümsedi ve sordu, "Bunu unuttun mu?

Ben de öğretmenim mi? Yabancın için seni başarısızlığa uğratacağımdan korkmuyor musun?

dil sınıfı da mı?"

Wu Qing suskun kaldı. Onu bulması biraz zaman aldı

bir kez daha seslenin. "Sen o adam kadar utanmaz değilsin. Ayrıca, siz

Kendi geleceğini de umursamazsın!"

"Bu doğru. Görünüşe göre onun hilelerini öğrenemiyorum." Shang Liuyu bir atış yaptı

Zu An'a baktı ve hafifçe gülümsedi. Sonra Wu Qing'e döndü ve

"Peki, benimle ne işin var?" diye sordu.

"Bariz olanı soruyorsun, vixen! Neden sonra tamamen masum davranıyorsun?

Erkek arkadaşımı mı çalıyorsun?" diye kükredi, Wu Qing.

"Vixen?" Shang Liuyu ilk kez birinin seslendiğini duyuyordu

O da öyleydi ve elinde olmadan kahkahalara boğuldu. "Senin kimsin

erkek arkadaş?"

"Kendini bile hatırlayamayacağın kadar çok erkek çaldın mı

Artık mı?" diye bağırdı Wu Qing. "Söylemeye gerek yok, bu İkinci Genç

Usta Xie Xiu!"

Wu Qing'in Xie Xiu'nun erkek arkadaşı olduğunu iddia ettiğini duyduktan sonra, ikisi de Pan

Long ve Fu Feng hayal kırıklığı içinde başlarını eğdiler.

"Xie Xiu?" Shang Liuyu sakince tekrarladı. "Yanlış anlıyorsun

burada bir şey. Onunla hiçbir ilişkim yok. Onu bir kenara bırakırsak,

şu anda herhangi bir erkekle ilişkisi yok."

"Ama bana sana aşık olduğunu söyledi! Nasıl mümkün olabilirdi ki?

Onu baştan çıkarmadıysan beni terk et?" diye kükredi, Wu Qing.

Pan Long ve Fu Feng elinde olmadan ona yumuşak bir şekilde hatırlattı, "Genç bayan,

Xie Xiu ile resmi olarak birlikte değilsin."

Wu Qing ikisine keskin bir şekilde baktı. "Kapa çeneni!"

Pan Long ve Fu Feng hızlıca acı gülümsemelerle ağızlarını sıkıştırdılar.

Zu An başını salladı ve konuştu, "Sen ve sen, buraya gel."

"Ne?" Pan Long ve Fu Feng, Zu An'ın ne yaptığı konusunda temkinliydi ama

yine de ikincisinin dediğini yaptılar.

"Öğretmenin olarak, seni bazı hayat dersleri hakkında eğitmek zorunda hissediyorum.

Hiç 'bootlickers sonunda çiğnenir' ifadesini duydunuz mu?

yaladıkları botlar?" diye sordu Zu An.

Pan Long ve Fu Feng'in böyle bir cümleyi ilk kez duymasıydı,

ama Zu An'ın ne sürdüğünü kolayca tahmin edebiliyorlardı. Yüzleri kızarmıştı

kırmızı, ama üstlerini bir havaya uçurmayı göze alamayacaklarını biliyorlardı.

öğretmen. Bu yüzden onu sadece kalplerinde lanetleyebilirlerdi.

Pan Long'u +444 Rage için başarıyla trolledin!

Fu Feng'i +444 Rage için başarıyla trolledin!

İki sinir bozucu bootlicker ile uğraştıktan sonra, Zu An bir

Shang Liuyu'nun havasını temizlemeye yardım etmesi gerekiyordu, bu yüzden Wu Qing'e döndü ve

"Xie Xiu'yu tanıyorum ve onun diğerlerinden ayrıldığını gördüm.

birçok durumda kadınlar. Sunduğu nedenler her zaman çeşitlidir. Ar

Bu sözleri sadece seni terk etmek için söylemediğinden emin misin?"

Wu Qing şaşırmıştı. Şimdi bunu düşündüğüne göre, gerçekten de vardı

böyle bir olasılık. Yüzü hemen utançtan kızardı.

"Geri kalanınız şimdi ayrılabilir," dedi Shang Liuyu tamamen soğuk bir sesle

Sesi. Ne kadar iyi huylu olursa olsun, bunu yapabilmesinin hiçbir yolu yoktu

Bu üçünün onu bir vixen olarak eleştirmek için buraya kadar koşmasına tahammül edin.

"Meseleye düzgün bir şekilde bakacağım." Wu Qing ayrılmadan önce homurdandı

garip bir şekilde.

Öfkeyle buraya gelmişti, ancak Zu'yu duyunca güvenini kaybetmişti

An'ın sözleri. Kesinlikle onun için kötü bir gündü

Dışarı çıktıktan kısa bir süre sonra, Wu Qing aniden kısa bir an durakladı.

Pan Long ve Fu Feng'e bakın. "Bana gerçeği söyle. Kim daha güzel,

Ben mi yoksa Shang Liuyu mu?"

"Tabii ki sensin!" Pan Long ve Fu Feng hiç tereddüt etmeden cevapladı.

Bunu söylemesine rağmen, Shang Liuyu'nun güzel köprücük kemiğinin ve onun görüntüsü

Açık tenli hala akıllarında duruyordu.

"Hmph, işe yaramaz!" Kadınlar samimiyetsizlere karşı duyarlı olma eğilimindeydi

Erkeklerin yaptığı açıklamalar, muhtemelen Wu Qing'in bunu yapabilmesinin nedeni buydu.

gerçek düşüncelerini hemen görmek için. "Shang Liuyu gerçekten de bir

dişi tilki! Erkekleri baştan çıkarmak için nasıl böyle ahlaksız kıyafetler giyebilirdi? Dinle,

İkiniz için bir görevim var!"

"Genç hanımefendi, sahip olduğunuz talimatları iletmekten çekinmeyin!" Uzun Tava

Fu Feng hemen duruşlarını düzeltti.

Wu Qing'in dudakları kıvrılarak konuştu, "Bunu yaymanı istiyorum

Shang Liuyu, Zu An ile evinde giyinmiş olarak buluşuyor

uygunsuz.."

Hmph, bakalım Xie Xiu onu sevmeye devam edecek mi?

itibar ekşidi. Ayrıca, eğer başkaları Chu Chuyan'ın kocasının

Dışarıda onu aldatıyor, kesinlikle onun için büyük bir darbe olurdu!

Neden bu kadar akıllıyım? Aslında iki kişiyi öldürmek için mükemmel bir plan düşünebiliyordum

Bir taşta kuşlar.

"Ah? Bunu yapmak gerçekten iyi mi?" Pan Long ve Fu Feng birine baktı

bir diğeri tereddütle. Hem Shang Liuyu hem de Zu An öğretmendi ve onlar

Shang Liuyu hakkında da iyi bir izlenim bırakmıştı.

"Bunun nesi bu kadar kötü? Zaten yalan söylüyormuşuz gibi değil! Öyle değil mi

Daha önce uygunsuz giyinmiş mi?" Wu Qing homurdandı. "Ben sadece

Sizden gerçeği burada aktarmanızı rica ediyorum, ama o kadarını bile yapamıyor musunuz? Ne bir

hayal kırıklığı!"

Pan Long ve Fu Feng hızlıca endişeyle cevapladı, "Lütfen bize bırakın!

Görevi kesinlikle sizin memnuniyetinize göre yerine getireceğiz!"

Ancak o zaman Wu Qing'in ruh hali biraz düzeldi. "Bu daha çok

o!"

1. Pan Long Fu Feng, 'Arkaya tırmanmak' anlamına gelen bir sözdür

bir ejderhanın ve bir anka kuşunun sülüklenmesinden'. İçeri giren birini ifade eder.

Birinin iyi lütufları öne çıkar ve yüksek konuma yükselir.

2. Soyadlarını uygun olan başka bir eşanlamlıyla değiştiriyor.

'Pan Long Fu Feng' diyerek.

Bölüm 103: Görünüş

Bu sırada Zu An, Shang Liuyu'ya sessizce baktıktan sonra bir an sessizce

"Bir öğretmen olarak kesinlikle zorlanıyorsun. Öğrencileriniz bile tökezledi

sana işkence etmek için kapına kadar."

Shang Liuyu gözlerini devirdi. "Hepsi kapıyı kapatmadığın için değil mi

gereken şekilde? Sence başka nasıl buraya girmeyi başardılar?"

"Ah, bir heyecan anında kapatmayı unuttum." diye yanıtladı Zu An

koyunca.

"Unut gitsin. Herhangi bir şey olup olmadığını görmek için melodiyi bir kez daha gözden geçirelim

onunla ilgili sorunlar." Shang Liuyu parmaklarını bir kez daha arpın üzerine koydu

ve hafifçe okşayarak, kalbini gönderen tutkulu bir melodi üretti

gümbürdeyerek.

Melodi kısa sürede sona erdi ve Zu An başını salladı

heyecan. "Aklımda olan tam olarak buydu! Abla Shang, sen bir

gerçek dahi!"

"Nasıl bir dahi olarak kabul edilebilirim? Bu melodinin yaratıcısı

buradaki gerçek dahi." Bu noktada, Shang Liuyu Zu An'a baktı.

İlgilenerek "Gerçekten bu melodinin yaratıcısı sen değil misin?" diye sordu.

"Gerçekten ben değilim. Bunu sadece rüyalarımda duydum." Kalın olarak-

Zu An gibi tenli biriydi, aslında bunları iddia edecek kadar utanmaz değildi

kendi eseri olarak şarkılar.

"Anlıyorum. Bu kadar alçakgönüllü olmanı beklemiyordum." Shang Liuyu aldı

yandan deniz kabuğuna benzeyen ve onu ona geçiren bir şey.

"İşte, bunu al."

Zu An, Shang Liuyu'nun yanlış anlamasını düzeltmek üzereyken

kendini bir deniz kabuğu ile sunulmuş buldu. Şaşkınlık içinde, "Bu nedir?" diye sordu.

"Bu öğe az önce duyduğu sesleri kaydedebiliyor. Oynamak için kullanabilirsiniz

o... Daha sonra sınıfa girdiğinizde fon müziği" yanıtını verdi

Shang Liuyu.

"Benimle gelmiyor musun?" Zu An hayal kırıklığı içinde sordu.

"Kendimi kamuoyu önünde utandırmak üzere değilim." Shang Liuyu'nun yüzü kızardı.

Zu An'ın gerçekten bir sürpriz çantası olduğunu hissetti; her şeyi bulabilirdi

Sadece bir sınıf öğretmek söz konusu olduğunda bile tuhaf şeyler.

"Eesh, anlıyorum." Başka seçenek olmadığını gören Zu An,

kabuk. Shang Liuyu'nun rehberliğinde, kısa sürede onu nasıl kullanacağını anladı.

Bu pratik olarak bir kayıt cihazı değil mi?

Bir kez daha, Zu An bu yetişim dünyasının ne kadar harika olduğuna şaşırdı

idi. Teknolojik olarak az gelişmiş olmasına rağmen, eksik olan şey

ki'nin getirdiği harikalarla telafi edildi. Birçoğu

Modernin kolaylıkları, eserlerin kullanımıyla taklit edilebilir

ve oluşumlar.

"Büyük kız kardeş Shang, ödünç alabileceğim bir saç kiri var mı?" diye sordu Zu

Bir.

"Saç balmumu?" Shang Liuyu, Zu An'ın ne istediğini anlamamıştı.

"Hata, saçınızı yerinde tutmaya yardımcı olan jelden bahsediyorum," Zu An

saç mumunun ne yaptığını kabaca açıkladı.

"Ah, sanırım burada da buna benzer bir şey var." diye cevapladı Shang Liuyu.

Bir şişeyle dönmeden önce bir süre evine gitti

bir çeşit jel ile doldurulmuş. "Ne tür bir saç modeli için gidiyorsun?"

"Bunu böyle yapmayı düşünüyorum..." Zu An, kaygan bir sırtın nasıl olduğunu açıkladı

Saç modeli kabaca jöleyi saçlarına sürdüğü ve yapmaya çalıştığı gibi görünüyordu.

şekillendirin. Ancak, parmaklarının düşündüğünden daha sakarlaştığı ortaya çıktı.

Shang Liuyu bu manzaraya gülümsedi ve konuştu: "Sana yardım edeceğim."

Saçını toplamasına yardım etmeden önce onu bir tabureye oturttu.

Birbirine yakın olan Zu An, hafif bir koku alabiliyordu

Ondan geliyor ve kalbini gümbürdüyordu. Eğer yanılmadıysa, kadın

geldiğinde havuzdan yeni çıkmış olmalıydı, bu yüzden yoktu

herhangi bir koku veya toz uygulama zamanı.

Peki nasıl hala bu kadar güzel kokuyordu? Genellikle kozmetik olabilir mi?

Uygulanan cildine sızdı mı?

Shang Liuyu öne geçmeden önce sırtını toparlayarak başladı

saçağını taramak için. Göreve o kadar odaklanmıştı ki, bilinçaltında

Biraz eğildi, Zu An'ın burnunu neredeyse fışkırtan bir manzarayı ortaya çıkardı

kan.

Banyo yapmayı yeni bitirmişti, bu yüzden giydiği elbise biraz gevşekti.

Önceden, hala bir mesafe uzakta duruyorlardı, bu yüzden görebildiği tek şey

omzunun sadece parçaları, köprücük kemiği ve benzerleri. Ancak, şimdi o olduğuna göre

Tam önünde biraz eğildiğinde, gevşek yakası sona erdi

biraz aşağı sarkık, açık tenini ve çekici sırtlarını ortaya çıkardı.

Gulp~

Zu An zihinsel olarak kendine sakin kalmasını hatırlattı, ama elinde olmadan

Bir ağız dolusu tükürüğü yudumlayın.

Ses, Shang Liuyu'nun dikkatini çekti ve dikkatini onun dikkatine çekti.

tuhaf yanıt. Bir göz atmak için başını eğdi ve yüzü hızla

kızarmış kırmızı. Hemen ayağa fırladı ve birkaç adım attı

Geri. Garip bir şekilde konuşmadan önce bir sessizlik anı vardı, "Bu

kabaca yapılmalıdır. Şimdi sınıfa gidebilirsin."

Zu An, olgun olarak gösterdiği soğukkanlılıktan etkilenmişti

kadın, meseleyi önlemeyi ve onu sönümlemeyi seçerek. Bir olsaydı

Genç kız, muhtemelen çığlık atmaya başlayacak ve kocaman bir şeye neden olacaktı.

yaygara.

Ama yine, Shang Liuyu ona yardım etmenin ortasındaydı.

yanlışlıkla ondan yararlandı. Ne kadar kalın tenli olursa olsun

Be, onun için de hala oldukça garip bir durumdu. "Senin için teşekkür ederim

bugün yardım et. Bir dahaki sefere sana bir yemek ikram edeceğim."

Shang Liuyu kasıtlı olarak konudan kaçındığı için, öyle olmazdı

kasıtlı olarak gündeme getirecek kadar aptalca. Bu telepatik bir türdü

bağlantı olgun insanlar birbirleriyle paylaştı. Hmmm, ben daha çok bir

Yine de şu anda gençlik.

Shang Liuyu'nun ifadesi yavaş yavaş normale döndü. Hafif bir gülümsemeyle,

Dedi ki, "Bana bir yemek vermek isteyen birçok insan var. O

sıranın sana ulaşması uzun zaman alabilir."

"Senden daha azını beklemezdim." Onun patlayıcı popülaritesini bilmek

Akademi, Zu An sözlerinin doğru olduğunu biliyordu. "Fırsat ortaya çıkarsa

o zaman."

Aritmetik sınıfının zamanı gelmişti, bu yüzden Zu An hızlıca onu salladı

Sky sınıfına gitmeden önce hoşçakalın.

...

Gürültülü Sarı sınıfın aksine, Gökyüzü sınıfı çok daha sessizdi. Dolduruldu

ne de olsa gururlu dahilerle. Ayıracak zamanları olsa bile,

daha ziyade yüksek ve yüce görünmek için kendilerine saklayın. Bunu hissettiler

diğer sınıfların öğrencilerinin nasıl olduğu gibi dalga geçmek için onların altındaydı

yaptı.

Bununla birlikte, herkesin gözleri hala doğal olarak belirli bir kişiye doğru kayıyordu.

Chu Chuyan sessizce kendi başına oturuyordu, ama bir şekilde sanki o gibi hissediyordu

soyundan gelen bir periyi andıran gizemli bir sisle örtülmüştü

cennet.

Bir numaralı güzellikten beklendiği gibi!

Herkesin aklında yüzeye çıkan düşünce buydu. Görmek nadirdi

Chu Chuyan etrafta, akademide bile ve bu herkesi hazine haline getirdi

daha da önemlisi, ondan alabilecekleri her bakışa değer veriyorlar.

Shi Kun kasıtlı olarak sınıfın arkasına yakın bir pozisyon seçti, böylece

Onun mükemmel figürünü tamamen takdir edebilirdi. Yuan Wendong ve diğerleri

Etrafına oturdu, içine girme umuduyla onu tereyağı yapmak için ellerinden gelenin en iyisini yapmaya çalıştılar.

iyi lütuflar. Shi Kun zaman zaman onların sözlerine cevap verirdi, ama

Dikkati açıkça önünde oturan peri üzerindeydi.

Diğer öğrencilerin Chu'ya doğru sinsice bakmaya devam ettiğini fark etti

Chuyan ve bu öfkeyi kalbine iyice yerleştirdi. Bu adamlar nasıl cüret ederler

benim kadınım?

Ama yine, bakış açılarının değişmesiyle, ne kadar büyüleyici olduğunu kanıtladı.

Seçtiği kadındı. Bu düşünce öfkesini biraz hafifletti.

Sınıfta Chu Chuyan'a eşit olduğu söylenen başka bir kadın yok mu?

Pei Mianman ya da başka bir şey denilen güzellikte? Neden onu etrafta görmüyorum?

Gökyüzü sınıfındaki dahilerin çoğunun uğraşması gereken kendi işleri vardı

Akademi dışında, bu yüzden katılımları için herhangi bir gereklilik yoktu. Bir

Sonuç olarak, tüm sınıfın herhangi bir günde bulunması nadirdi. O

Pei Mianman'ın bugün buralarda olmaması çok garip değildi.

Ah doğru, Zheng Dan adında başka bir güzellik daha var,

Sağ?

Shi Kun'un gözleri etrafta sürüklendi ve hızlıca güzel bir görüntü yakaladı.

geleneksel bir zarafet yayan kadın. Hareketleri nazikti ve

demure, kadınsı çekicilikle dolup taşar.

Shi Kun kadar yüksek standartlara sahip biri için bile bunu inkar edemezdi.

büyüleyici bir kadındı.

"Sang Qian kesinlikle şanslı."

Zheng Dan'ın Shang Qian'ın nişanlısı olduğu bir sır değildi, bu yüzden yoktu.

bu şekilde bunu bilemezdi.

Yazık!

Başka biri olsaydı, Shi Kun muhtemelen kapmaya çalışırdı

Zheng Dan onun yanına gitti. Sanki bunu daha önce yapmamış gibi değildi.

zaten yıllar. Ancak, Sang klanı şu anda Sang klanı tarafından tercih ediliyordu.

İmparator, bu yüzden şimdilik onların kötü tarafına geçmek akıllıca olmazdı.

Neyse ki, Sang klanının istikrarlı bir temeli yoktu. Herhangi bir aksilik varsa

gelecekte olacaktı... Hehehe, başka seçeneği olmayacağını tahmin ediyorum

ama yardım için bana dönmek. O zamana kadar, tek yapmam gereken Zheng Dan'ı işaret etmek,

ve o benim olurdu...

Nasıl yapacağını düşünürken hayal gücü çıldırmaya başladı

Erdemliliğini yavaşça kırın ve onu uçuruma doğru sürükleyin. Sonunda

kendini kaybedecek ve onun için topuklu ayakkabıların üzerine düşecekti.

Nasıl olduğunu derinden tanımak için birçok kez böyle numaralar yapmıştı

Gitti.

Bu kadınlara karşı tek istediği sadece bir coşku duygusuydu.

onlara başarılı bir şekilde hükmetmek. Onlar için herhangi bir duygu taşımıyordu, bu yüzden

özellikle evli olup olmadıklarını umursamıyorlardı. Aksine,

Evli kadınları fethetmek ona daha büyük bir heyecan getirdi.

Ancak, Chu Chuyan için aynı şey değildi. Duygularını adamıştı

Ona göre, kimsenin ona hakaret etmesine izin vermezdi.

Çok uzakta olmayan Zheng Dan, Shi Kun'un ateşli bakışlarını hissedebiliyordu, bu yüzden

cevap olarak ona doğru hafif bir gülümseme yöneltti. Uzun zamandır duymuştu

Shi klanının Altıncı Genç Efendisinin itibarı ve o kadar gösterişliydi

söylentilerin onu ortaya koyduğu gibi. Sadece bakışları biraz hissetmişti

Rahatsız.

Buna karşılık, Zu An'ın daha çok bir beyefendi olduğunu hissetti.

Haaa, kesinlikle içinde yaşadığımız garip bir dünya. Gerçek bir beyefendinin kendi

Karmaşa içinde bir üne sahip, ama Shi Kun gibi koyun kılığında bir kurt zevk alıyor

Böyle iyi bir itibar.

Bu tür düşünceler zihninde yüzeye çıktıkça, gözleri bilinçaltında hareket etti

Chu Chuyan'a doğru, sadece onu orada bir soylu gibi sessizce otururken görmek için

prenses.

Hmph! Ne kadar çaresiz olduğunu öğrenirsen nasıl hissederdin merak ediyorum

Kocam çekiciliğimden önce!

Zheng Dan artık kendini gerçekten anlayamıyordu. Asla izin vermedi

herhangi bir erkeğin ona yaklaşması, nişanlısının bile elini tutmasına izin vermemesi.

Yine de, dünyada Zu An'ın yapmasına izin verecek kadar cesur oldu ...

Gerçekten çekiciliğimi kaparak kanıtlamak için bu kadar ileri mi gidiyorum?

Chu Chuyan'ın adamı mı?

Bazı nedenlerden dolayı, bu düşünce Zheng Dan'ı derinden rahatsız etti.

Diğer erkek öğrencilerin Chu'ya nasıl gizlice baktıklarını fark etti

Chuyan ve bu onu daha da sinirli hissettirdi. Bütün bunlar şehvetli

erkekler!

İşte o zaman sınıfın kapısı aniden patladı. Herkes

Hızlıca bakışlarını çevirdiler, öğretmenin nihayet geldiğini düşündüler.

Ancak, Wu Qing yüzünde soğuk bir bakışla içeri giriyordu.

Wu Qing de aslında oldukça iyi bir gözlemciydi ve birçok öğrenci vardı

ona yaklaşmakla ilgilenenler. Ancak, ürpertici aura o

tam da bu anda yayılıyor olması herkesi uzak tutuyordu. Hiç kimse

sinirli bir ruh halindeyken onunla ilgilenmek istedi.

Tek kelime etmeden, Wu Qing koltuğuna doğru yürüdü ve oturdu. O

O zaman Chu Chuyan'ın yanında oturduğunu ve öfkesini fark etti

hemen telaşlandı. Bu yüzden tekrar ayağa kalktı, Chu Chuyan'ın yanına doğru durdu

Yan tarafa ve soğukça ona baktı. "Zu An senin kocan mı?"

Chu Chuyan soruyu duyunca kaşlarını çattı, ama yine de başını salladı

yanıt. "Evet, doğru."

Zu An ile evlenme amacı, Zu An'ın düşüncelerini koparmaktı.

Onun ve Chu klanının peşinden geliyordu, bu yüzden gelmemesi için hiçbir neden yoktu

bunu itiraf etmek.

Shi Kun, Chu Chuyan'ın eylemlerinin arkasındaki mantığı da anladı, ama

Sevgili kadınının başka bir erkeği kocası olarak kabul ettiğini duymak

hala onu derinden rahatsız ediyordu. Yüzü korkunç bir şekilde canlandı

Şimdiye kadar ihmal ettiği bir sorunun farkına vardı.

Chu Chuyan'ın Kar yüzünden hala bir bakire olduğunun farkındaydı, ama kimse yoktu

başka türlü de bunu biliyordu. Çoğu insan onun iffetini varsayardı.

şimdiye kadar çoktan alınmış olurdu. Yani, eğer onunla evlenecek olsaydı,

Gelecekte, herkes onun aldatıldığını düşünmeyecek miydi?

"O senin kocan olduğuna göre, onu yakından takip etmen gerekmez mi? Neden

başka kadınlarla flört ediyor mu?!" Wu Qing daha önce soğukça homurdandı

koltuğuna geri dönüyor.

Chu Chuyan şaşkına dönmüştü. Wu Qing'in dünyada ne olduğu hakkında hiçbir fikri yoktu

burada konuşuyorum.

Bununla birlikte, Wu Qing'in sözleri spekülasyonlar için bolca yer bıraktı.

Gökyüzü sınıfındaki diğer öğrenciler birbirlerine fısıldamaya başladılar. Bu

Dedikodu arzusu tüm insanlarda doğuştan geliyordu, yüce dahiler için bile.

"Zu An gerçekten Wu Qing ile flört etmeye mi çalıştı?"

"Kutsal! Bu adam kesinlikle bir canavar! Aslında tekelleşmek istiyor

İki dükalık klanının genç özlemeleri!"

"Chu Chuyan kadar güzel bir karısı olmasına rağmen, hala bulmak istiyor

dışarıdaki diğer kadınlar. Hmph, gerçekten kendi yerini öğrenmeli!"

"Çimlerin her zaman daha yeşil olduğu sözünü duymadın mı?

diğer taraf? Chu Chuyan bizim için bir tanrıça olabilir, ama Zu An çoktan yaptı

Onun tadına vardı, bu yüzden doğal olarak artık onu o kadar da el üstünde tutmuyor. Bu

her zaman ulaşılamayan şeyler daha çekici görünür."

"Oof! Neden sözlerin kalbime saplanan bir bıçak gibi geliyor?"

...

Etraftaki dedikodular Shi Kun'un göz kapaklarının korku içinde seğirmesine neden oldu. Bunu yapar mı?

Adam gerçekten böyle inanılmaz yetenekler kullanıyor mu?

O zaman vahşi bir melodi havada çalmaya başladı ve

öğrenciler arasında tüyler diken diken oluyor. Sanki kanlarını yarıştırıyormuş gibi bıraktı

dünyayı kurtarmak için bir savaşa girmek üzereydiler.

"Neler oluyor?"

Şaşkın kalabalık gözlerini binanın girişine çevirdi.

Sınıfta, sadece yavaşça içeri giren yükselen bir figürü görmek için. Saçları

daha önce kimsenin görmediği kaygan bir saç modelinde tarandı, ama bazıları için

nedeni, oldukça iyi görünüyordu. Görünmesini sağlayan siyah bir üniforma giyiyordu

attığı her adımda giderek daha fazla heybetlileşiyor.

"Kim bu adam?"

"Bu akademinin öğretmeninin giydiği üniforma değil mi?"

"Çöp! Öğretmenin üniforması daha önce ne zaman bu kadar süslü görünüyordu?"

...

Bu arada, Chu Chuyan biraz şaşkın hissediyordu. Bunu neden yapıyor?

kişi bana garip bir şekilde tanıdık geliyor mu?

Shi Kun bir plan hazırlarken bir yudum su almanın ortasındaydı

Zu An ile başa çıkmak için sonunda kişiye düzgün bir bakış attı

podyuma doğru yürümek. Hemen suyunda boğuldu ve bir

Karışıklık.

Bölüm 104: Nasıl Gidiyorsun

Benimle rekabet etmek için?

Bir dakika! Podyumdaki o kişi Zu An değil mi?

Shi Kun gözlerini ovuşturdu, bir şeyler gördüğünden korkuyordu.

Onunla aynı düşünceyi paylaşan birçok insan vardı. Hemen hemen

Odadaki her öğrenci Zu An'a gözlerini açmış bir şekilde bakıyordu.

Güvensizlik.

"Bu adam saçını nasıl yaptı? Oldukça havalı görünüyor. Vermeli miyim

bir gün de bir deneyin? Ayrıca, müzikte ne var? Gerçekten kalbimi yapıyor

Hızlı pompala," diye mırıldandı Xie Xiu yumuşakça.

"Şimdi ona daha yakından baktığıma göre, aslında oldukça iyi görünüyor.

Bu kıyafette rahat görünümünden çok daha heybetli görünüyor "diye ekledi

Zheng Dan.

"Bu adam neden bana eskisinden çok daha hoş görünüyor? Benim

Tanrım, deliriyor olmalıyım!" Wu Qing soğukça homurdandı.

Chu Chuyan da bu noktada ilk şoktan kurtulmaya başladı.

Gerçekten bir şeyler görmediğini ve üzerindeki kişinin

Podyum kocasından başkası değildi. Her zamanki soğukluğuyla bile

kişiliğinde, yüzünün yandığını hissetti. Hemen yanında bir delik olsaydı

Onunla, bir saniye bile tereddüt etmeden içeri atlayabilirdi.

"Ne yapıyorsun?!" Sesini gizlice Zu An'a iletti

Heyecanla.

Zu An ona bir bakış attı, ama sorusuna cevap vermedi.

Chu Chuyan dudaklarını ısırdı ve devam etti, "Etrafı karıştırmayı bırak ve git

geri dön!"

Daha önce hayatı boyunca hiç bu kadar utanmamıştı. Hayatı boyunca, o

her zaman kontrolü elinde tutan kişi olmuştu. Akademide bile yüce biriydi

kimsenin uğraşmaya cesaret edemediği bir varlık.

Ama tam o anda, iğnelerle dolu bir yatakta oturuyormuş gibi hissetti.

Herkesin ona garip bakışlar attığını, bir şeyler yapmayı beklediğini hissetti.

Chu klanının gülünç durumu.

Bu arada, Zu An çoktan pozisyona girmişti ve

Önündeki öğrencilerle yüzleşin. Öfkeyle kızaran Chu'yu fark ettikten sonra

Chuyan, sert bir ifade takındı ve "Şuradaki öğrenci,

Lütfen burada bir dersimiz olduğunu hatırlatın. Durmalısın

dersin ortasında öğretmenine gizlice mesaj göndermek."

"oh~"

Zu An'ın olduğunu anladıklarında sınıf içinde bir kargaşa patlak verdi.

Chu Chuyan'a burada hitap ediyor. Evli statüleri göz önüne alındığında,

birbirlerine ne fısıldadıklarını anlamak için bir dahi gerekmedi

hakkında. Burada biraz drama vardı ve orada her zaman memnuniyetle karşılandı.

Ancak, herkes bunu iyi almıyordu.

"Toplum içinde tamamen tombul davranmak, utanç duygusuna sahip değil misin?" Wu Qing

Giysilerinin eteklerini kavrarken can sıkıntısıyla dilini tıklattı

Sıkı -ca.

Zheng Dan da bu açıklamaya kaşlarını çattı. "Görünüşe göre ikisi de

düşündüğümden daha yakınlar. Biraz sıkıntılı olabilir..."

Bu arada, Chu Chuyan kendi yüzünü örtmek için bir dürtü hissetti. Hiç yapmamıştı

hayatı boyunca çok utanmış hissettim. Dünyada yanlış olan şudur

Arkadaşın aklında?

Bir dakika, sadece 'öğretmen' mi dedi?

Shi Kun da aklında aynı şüpheleri taşıyordu, bu yüzden ona işaret etti.

altlıklar. Beklenmedik bir şekilde, astları bakışlarını kaçırdı, değil

ona cevap vermek. Başka seçeneği kalmadığı için, sadece ileri adım atabilirdi

Zu An'a meydan okumak için kendisi. "Çevrene yakından bak.

Şu anda Gökyüzü sınıfındasın. Burası birinin geldiği bir yer değil

Sarı sınıf olmalı."

Görünüşe göre bu insanlar gerçekten beceriksiz. Kesinlikle okumayı bilmiyorlar

durum! Yakında kendime gerçekten yeni astlar bulmalıyım!

"Ah? Az önce buranın olmam gereken bir yer olmadığını mı söyledin?" Zu An

Shi Kun'a gözlerinde eğlenceli bir bakışla baktı.

"Tabii ki. Kişi yerini bilmelidir. Bunda yanlış bir şey yok

Sarı sınıfta olmanız; sadece daha düşük yetenekle doğdunuz.

Ancak, zorla aşmaya çalışırsanız büyük bir hata olur.

daha yüksek yerlere çıkma umuduyla sınırlar."

Shi Kun, Zu An'ı yere kadar çiğnemeye kararlıydı

herkesten önce. Chu klanının hala kabul edip etmeyeceğini görmek istiyordu

Bu eşek arısı, birçok insanın önünde aşağılandıktan sonra bile.

"Ne yaptığına bak. Daha önceki melodide ve senin melodinde ne var?

Saç modeli? Duruşunuzu yükseltmek için yaptığınız tüm umutsuz girişimler artık görünmüyor

bizim gibi dahilerin önünde bir şakadan daha fazlası."

Konuşurken etrafındaki insanlara işaret etti, ancak hemen sonra kaşlarını çattı.

Odadaki atmosferin aniden tuhaflaştığını fark etti ve

diğer herkes ona tuhaf bir şekilde bakıyordu. Yuan Wendong'un bile bir

Yüzünde tereddütlü bir bakış.

Burada neler oluyor?

Shi Kun aniden korkunç bir önsezi hissetti, sanki gerçekten kötü bir şeymiş gibi

gerçekleşmek üzere.

Chu Chuyan ayağa kalktı ve Shi Kun'a soğukça baktı, "Genç efendi

Shi, Zu An benim kocam. Yetkinlik seviyesi ne olursa olsun, öyle değil

onu eleştirmek için senin yerin."

Zu An'a düşkün olmayabilirdi, ama kendini hareketsiz oturmaya getiremedi

diğerleri ise kocasını gözlerinin önünde yere seriyordu.

Chu Chuyan'ın Zu An için ayağa kalkma eylemi Shi Kun'un

öfke. Ancak, duygularının ortaya çıkmasına izin vermedi, yine de

Yüzündeki mükemmel gülümsemeyi koruyordu. "Genç Bayan Chu,

sözlerimi yanlış anladım. Chu klanını eleştirmek istemiyorum. Sadece düşünüyorum

senin kadar seçkin birinin eşit derecede evlenmesi gerektiğini;

yetkili adam. Oradaki adam sana hiç layık değil."

"Eşit derecede yetkin bir adamla evlenmek mi?" Chu Chuyan kahkahalara boğuldu. "Böyle

Dünyevi standartların benim için hiçbir anlamı yok. Zu An'ın mükemmel olduğunu düşünüyorum

olduğu gibi iyi."

Zaten olduğu gibi yeterince olağanüstüydü; ona ihtiyacı yoktu

kocası da yetenekli olmak. Aksine, eğer olsaydı iyi bir şey olmazdı.

kocası çok yetkindi.

Zu An bu sözleri duyunca derinden etkilendi.

Taş gibi soğuk karımın aslında bu kadar sıcak olabileceğini düşünmemiştim. Ey? Nedir?

Öfke noktalarının bu ani akışıyla?

Zu An, şaşkınlığına rağmen, büyük bir öfke dalgası aldığını fark etti

sistem üzerindeki noktalar. Önündeki öğrencilere bakmak için döndü, sadece

Tüm erkek öğrencilerin ona öfke cehennemleriyle baktığını görün

gözleri.

"Dünyayı önceki yaşamında ya da başka bir şeyde kurtardı mı? Nasıl olur da

Onun gibi biri tanrıçamızın fantezisini kazandı mı?"

"Sonunda tanrıçanın dikkatini neden çekemediğimi anladım. O

Bunca zaman boyunca çok olağanüstü olduğum ortaya çıktı!"

"Tanrıçamızın böyle sıra dışı bir şeye sahip olacağını kim bilebilirdi ki?

tat? Seçkin erkekler yerine, ortalama olanları tercih ediyor."

"Tsk! Kendinizin olağanüstü olduğunu iddia ediyorsunuz, ama geri kalanınız değilsiniz

Chu Chuyan'dan önce de pek bir şey yok mu?"

"Peki ya genç efendi Shi? Yeterince olağanüstü olmalı

senin için, değil mi? Yine de, Chu Chuyan'ın herhangi bir ilgi gösterdiğini hiç gördünüz mü?

Daha önce mi?"

...

Sınıf arkadaşındaki öğrenciler arasındaki fısıltılar Shi Kun'un fısıltılarını yaptı

göz kapakları yoğun bir şekilde seğirir. Bu kadın aslında beni toplum içinde yere serdi!!! Ama

neden hiç kızgın hissetmiyorum? Bunun yerine, sadece onu farklı hissettirir

hayatımda tanıştığım diğer kadınlar.

Hmph! Her neyse, hepsi Zu An'ın suçu! Zevk almaya ne hakkın var

Chu Chuyan'ın sevgisi?

Durumun yeterince olgunlaştığını gören Zu An boğazını temizledi. O

Karısının arkasına saklanmak konusunda gayet iyiydi, ama bu Shi Kun adamı

gerçekten sinirlerine dokunuyordu.

"Siz insanların önünde bir şakadan başka bir şeye bakmadığımı söylediniz. Bilebilir miyim

Burada hangi insan grubundan bahsediyorsun?"

Shi Kun, Zu An'ın cevabını duyunca çok sevindi. Chu Chuyan'ın daha önceki

Müdahale ona saldırısını sürdürecek yer bırakmamıştı, ama bu

Adam aslında bu noktada konuşacak kadar aptaldı. Hmph,

Görünüşe göre o, hiçbir şeyi başaramayacak olan hiçbir şey için iyi bir şey değil

büyük. Sadece küçük bir zafer ve kafasının üzerinden geçmesine izin veriyor.

"Doğal olarak, asil doğuştan gelenlere veya olağanüstü olanlara atıfta bulunuyorum.

yetiştirme yeteneği." Shi Kun sınıftaki kalabalığa baktı.

"Bu odadaki herkes için, sen sadece bir şakasın."

Shi klanının duruşu ve itibarı ile hiçbir şey olmadığını hissetti.

Sınıftakilerin onun sözlerini çürütme şekli, özellikle de

önemsiz yaban arısı.

"Öyle mi?" Zu An, Xie Xiu'ya döndü ve ona sordu, "Şu erkek

Orada bir kıza benzeyen öğrenci. Etrafına bakmayı bırak, onunla konuşuyorum

sen. Benim bir şaka olduğumu mu düşünüyorsun?"

Xie Xiu bu karmaşaya karıştığı için boğulmuş görünüyordu. Neden cehennemsin

beni seninle birlikte aşağı mı sürüklüyorsun? Daha önce canlı Shi Kun'a bir bakış attı

Zu An'a geri dönersek. Sonunda, derin bir iç çekti ve "Tabii ki

değil."

İlk etapta Xie klanının içinde bulunduğu Kral Qi'nin fraksiyonu

Shi klanının içinde bulunduğu İmparatoriçe'nin fraksiyonuyla loggerhead'ler, bu yüzden vardı

Xie Xiu'nun ilk etapta Shi Kun'a ertelemesi için hiçbir neden yoktu. Bunun da ötesinde,

Zu An, akademinin bir öğretmeniydi ve bu ona daha az sebep verdi.

Shi Kun'un yanında.

Cevaptan memnun olan Zu An, Xie Xiu'nun daha önce oturmasına izin verdi.

başka bir öğrenciyi işaret ederek. "Sokakta oturan o güzel kız öğrenci

Ön sıra, şaka olduğumu mu düşünüyorsun?"

Zheng Dan, törenden önce 'güzel' olarak iltifat edilmekten oldukça memnundu.

sınıf, ama Shi Kun'a karşı halkın önünde durmaya zorlanmak tüyleri diken diken etti

kollarının her yerinde. Sadece belirsiz bir cevap verebilirdi, "Bu nasıl olabilir

olmak mı?"

Nişanlısı, Shi Kun ile aynı tarafa ait olan Sang Qian'dı.

an. Ancak, Zu An'ın şu anki durumunu göz önünde bulundurarak,

Akademinin öğretmeni, onu açıkça etiketlemeye cesaret etmesinin bir yolu yoktu.

bir şaka.

Shi Kun oldukça keskin zekalı görünüyor, peki neden bu kadar donuk kafalı

şimdi?

Zu An, bakışlarını Wu Qing'e doğru hareket ettirmeden önce memnuniyet içinde başını salladı.

"Genç Bayan Wu, şaka yaptığımı mı düşünüyorsun?"

Wu Qing dişlerini sıktı. Başını sallamak için çok cazipti, ama sonra

Bu konuda daha önce bitirildiğinde, bunu yapmasının bir yolu yoktu

aptalca bir kez daha tuzağına atladı. Ayrıca, Xie Xiu çoktan bir şey yapmıştı

daha önce duruş. Ağabeyi Xie Xiu'ya karşı çıkmasının bir yolu yoktu

halka açık. Bu yüzden, sadece öfkeyle "Yapmamaya cesaret ediyorum" diye bağırabilirdi.

Chu Chuyan'ın gözleri şaşkınlıkla genişledi. Bugün neler oluyor? Neden

Bu insanların hepsi Zu An için mi konuşuyor?

Dahası, bazıları onunla kötü şartlardaydı, hatta

Zu An'ın yanında yer alacakları görüşüne göre daha da gülünçtü.

Birdenbire, Wu Qing'in sahip olduğu açıklanamaz kelimeleri düşündü

Daha önce onun önünde konuştu ve kafasında bir düşünce ortaya çıktı. Bu olamaz

Bu adam Wu Qing ile bağlantı kurmayı başardı, değil mi?

Durumu anlamlandırayamayan sadece Chu Chuyan değildi.

Shi Kun da tamamen şaşkındı. Neyin yanlış olduğunu anlayamadı

bu insanlarla. Neden sadece çöp yüzünden bana karşı geliyorlar?

Birkaç öğrenciyi sorguladıktan sonra, Zu An sonunda bakmak için gülümsemesini dizginledi

şaşkına dönmüş Shi Kun'da. Yetkili bir sesle, "Git

ve sınıfın dışında durun."

Shi Kun durumun gülünçlüğüne güldü. "Sen kimsin

öyle olduğunu mu düşünüyorsun? Bana etrafta emir vermeye nasıl cüret edersin?"

Chu Chuyan'ın da aynı şekilde kafası karışmıştı. Ne var ne yok? Bu adam

bugün tamamen garip davranıyor. Hayır, sadece o değil, buradaki herkes!

Zu An usulca iç çekti ve konuştu: "Parlak Ay Akademisi'nin kuralları dikte ediyor

ders sırasında öğretmenleriyle konuşan öğrencilerin ciddi olması gerektiğini;

Cezalandırdı. En kötü senaryoda, en kötü senaryoda,

akademi. Sözlerimin sadece şov amaçlı olduğunu mu düşünüyorsun?"

Aslında, kuralların yapabileceği çok şey olduğunu biliyordu. Bu

Akademinin önde gelenlerin Altıncı Genç Efendisini kovması mümkün değildi

Shi klanı böyle küçük bir mesele yüzünden Ancak, eğer küçük bir ceza olsaydı,

Akademi bu konuda fazla bir şey söylemezdi.

"Sen, bir öğretmen misin?" Sanki Shi Kun en komik şakayı duymuş gibiydi.

dünya. Tam bir şey söylemek üzereyken Yuan Wendong

endişeyle onu durdurmak için kollarını çekti.

"O gerçekten Brightmoon Akademisi'nin yeni aritmetik öğretmeni."

Shi Kun'un ilk düşüncesi Yuan Wendong'un aklından çıkmış olmasıydı.

Ancak, kısa bir süre sonra, bir bakışla aynı fikirde başını sallayan birkaç kişi daha gördü

Yüzlerinde sempati vardı ve gülümsemesi hemen dondu.

"Kanlı cehennem, neden daha önce söylemedin?!"

Shi Kun o kadar öfkelenmişti ki her zamanki beyefendi kişiliğinden sıyrıldı

ve yüksek sesle lanetledi.

"Bize sormadın!"

Yuan Wendong da haksızlığa uğradığını hissetti. Akademide bunu yapan kimse yok

bu konuyu bilmiyor. Güçlü bir zekanız yok mu

ağ? Bunu duymadığınızı nereden bilebilirim?

Shi Kun o kadar boğulmuş hissetti ki kan fışkırtabilirdi. Neden Kar Yağmadı ya da

Mei Chaofeng bana bundan bahseder misin? Daha önce kendimi utandırmamı sağladılar

tüm sınıf! Sınıftaki atmosferin neden biraz hissedildiğine şaşmamalı

kapalı.

Neyse ki, keskin zekasıyla, bir çıkış yolu bulması uzun sürmedi.

bu ikilem. "Bugün yeni transfer oldum, bu yüzden hala bu konuda cahilim.

Bu akademinin işleri. Ayrıca, kendinizi tanıtırken kendinizi tanıtmadınız.

Daha önce girdim, bu yüzden bunun için suçlanmam gerektiğini düşünmüyorum

yanlış anlama."

Zu An onaylayarak başını salladı. "Haklısın. Hissedeceğini tahmin ediyorum

Seni de böyle cezalandırırsam öfkelenirim. Peki, madem durum bu, neden

bunun yerine bu sorunu aritmetik yoluyla çözmüyor muyuz? Bir test yapacağım

Bugün, ve soruyu doğru cevaplayamayan herkes yapmak zorunda kalacak

sınıfın dışında durun. Bu kulağa adil geliyor mu?"

Bu sözler sınıfta bulunan hemen hemen her öğrenciyi şok etti.

Yang Wei'nin tek bir soruyu bile doğru cevaplayamadığını görmek

zihinlerinde hala tazeydi.

Sınıf arkadaşlarının tepkilerinden habersiz olan Shi Kun, bir an için şaşkına dönmüştü.

teklifi hemen kabul etmeden hemen önce. "Evet, kulağa hoş geliyor

ben."

Hem yetişiminde hem de akademisyenlerinde yetkin olmaktan gurur duyuyordu.

Zu An'ın sorduğu soruların mümkün olabileceğini düşünmemişti

onu güdükleyin. Ayrıca, bahis sadece onu değil, dünyadaki herkesi de içeriyordu.

.class. Sınıftaki başka hiç kimsenin yapamayacağından emindi

Onun bile cevaplayamadığı bir soruya cevap verin. Elbette Zu An gitmezdi

herkesi sınıftan dışarı gönderme ölçüsünde, değil mi? Karısı

Ne de olsa kalabalığın arasında!

"Pekala, dikkatlice dinle." Zu An sorusunu sormaya başladı.

"Bu soru iki kişiyi kapsıyor, A ve B. A sadece yalan söylerken, B

sadece gerçeği söyler, ancak ikisi sadece soruları cevaplayabilir

başını sallayarak veya başını sallayarak. Bir gün, iki kişiyle karşı karşıya kalırsın

farklı yollar, Yol Bir ve Yol İki. Bunlardan biri başkente götürür

diğeri ise küçük bir köye götürür. Sadece öyle olur ki, A ve

B şu anda önünüzde duruyor, ama siz kim olduğunu bilmiyorsunuz

A ve B kimdir ve başını sallamanın evet mi yoksa hayır mı anlamına geldiğini bilmiyorsunuz.

Şu anda, onlara bir soru sormalı ve hangi yolun gittiğini bulmalısınız

başkente. Öyleyse verildiğinde, soracağın soru nedir?"

Sınıftaki öğrenciler soruyu duyunca nefesleri kesildi. Gibi

Beklenen, gerçekten zor bir soruydu!

Shi Kun duyduklarından şaşkına dönmüştü. Duyduktan sonra bile

sorusunun tamamını sorduğunda, hala ne olduğunu anlamaya çalışırken zorluk çekiyordu.

devam ediyordu. Uzun zaman sonra, sonunda kızarmış bir yüzle cevap verdi,

"Bilmiyorum. Ancak, diğer uygulayıcıların hiçbirinin bunu yapabileceğine inanmıyorum

Soruyu da cevaplayın. Onu da test etmeye cesaret ediyorum!"

Parmağıyla Chu Chuyan'ı işaret etti. Alacak olsa bile bunu hissetti

Chu Chuyan yanında olduğu sürece cezalandırıldı, bu güzel olurdu

kılık değiştirmiş bir nimettir. Eğer gerçekten karını benim içime göndermek istiyorsan

Silahlar, onu almaktan çok mutluyum.

Bu sözleri duyan Zu An, Chu Chuyan'ın yanına yürüdü ve baktı

sessizce ona. O anda, Chu Chuyan'ın zihni bir telaş içindeydi.

Daha önceki şokundan kurtulmaya çalışırken hala zorluk çekiyordu,

Zu An'ın daha önce sorduğu soru onu da tökezletmişti.

Kişi onun bir numaralı dahi olarak ünlü olduğunu bilmelidir.

Uzun yıllardır akademi, diğer tüm öğrenciler tarafından saygı duyuluyor. Eğer o

Burada bir soruyu doğru cevaplayamadım ve sonunda

Bunun için cezalandırılırsa, itibarı paramparça olurdu!

Zu An paniğini gözlerinden görebiliyordu ve dudaklarına bir gülümseme süzüldü.

"Hazır mısın? Şimdi sana bir soru soracağım."

"Devam et." Chu Chuyan daha önce hiç bu kadar gergin hissetmemişti. Aklında

zihni anlamaya çalışmaktan kısa devre yaptığı için tamamen boşaldı

önceki sorunun nasıl çözülmesi gerekiyordu.

Sonra, herkesin gözlerinin önünde, Zu An sordu, "Senin sorunun ne

1+1'e eşit mi?"

Bölüm 105: Bakabilirsin Ama

Gülme!

"Ne cehennemi? O çok utanmaz!"

"Bu çok saçma!"

"Halkın içinde sevgi kokusunu erken ölümlere yayanlara lanet ediyorum!"

...

Sınıfta bir kargaşa çıktı. Zu An'ın

Bir öğretmen olsaydı, şimdiye kadar onu tükürüklerinde boğacakları kesindi.

İlginçtir ki, erkekten gelen öfke ve kıskançlık bakışlarıyla çelişiyor

öğrenciler, kız öğrencilerin gözleri heyecanla parıldıyordu.

"Waa, ne kadar havalı! Keşke benim de böyle otoriter bir erkek arkadaşım olsaydı!"

"Bu, sadece romantizm romanlarında gördüğüm türden bir durum.

okudum!"

"Birisi beni de böyle korusaydı, sanırım bayılabilirdim

mutluluktan."

...

Chu Chuyan, keskin kulaklarıyla fısıltıları yüksek sesle ve net bir şekilde duyabiliyordu.

Hafif bir kırmızı belirti güzel yanaklarına yayılmaya başlamıştı. Yapamazdı

Burada neler olup bittiğini kavrayın. Sadece oraya gitmedim

Birkaç günlüğüne akademi. Zu An dünyada nasıl bir kişi olmayı başardı?

akademide öğretmen?

İlk düşüncesi, sınıftaki herkesin bir araya geldiğiydi

Onu kandırmak için, ama o hemen bu düşünce çizgisini çürüttü. Zu An yapmadı

Gökyüzü sınıfının dahilerine onun teklifini yaptırmak için bağlantılar kurmak,

özellikle Shi Kun değil.

Sonra, küçük kız kardeşinin gözlerindeki tuhaf bakışı hatırladı

dün, neredeyse yüksek sesle gülecekmiş gibi görünüyordu ama

umutsuzca onu içeride tutuyordu. Görünüşe göre, o anlaşılıyor ki

Bu konuyu zaten biliyordu ama kasıtlı olarak gizliyordu.

Bu lanet olası lass! Aslında yaşlısına şaka yapmak için bir yabancıyla gizlice anlaştı

kız kardeş. Ama... Zu An gerçekten yabancı olarak mı kabul ediliyor?

Zu An içeri akan Öfke noktalarına baktı ve öğrencilerinin

sadece çok sevimli. Onlara aritmetik için daha yüksek bir not vereceğim

daha sonra puanlar... Eh, birkaç kişi hariç, yani. Heh, ben o kadar küçüğüm

bir kişinin!

Chu Chuyan'ın hiç cevap vermediğini görünce, Zu An gülümsedi ve sordu,

"Neden? Bu soruyla ilgili sorun mu yaşıyorsunuz?"

"Cevap 2." Chu Chuyan'ın yüzü bir elma kadar kırmızıydı.

İşlerin böyle sonuçlanmasını hiç beklememişti, ama yine, daha önce,

Soru gerçekten de cevap verme yeteneğinin ötesindeydi. Şunları yapabilir:

Cevabı düşünün, eğer üzerinde düşünmesi için daha fazla zaman verildiyse, ama

Yerinde cevap vermek açıkça imkansızdı. Gönderilmek yerine

Sınıftan ve yanlış cevap aldığı için cezalandırılırdı,

bunun yerine Zu An'ın yardım hattına tutun.

"Doğru. Gökyüzü sınıfının bir numaralı dahisinden beklendiği gibi.

Pekala, arkana yaslanıp oturabilirsin," diye iltifat etti Zu An.

Chu Chuyan genellikle durum ne olursa olsun başını dik tutardı. Öyle olsun

Geçmişi ya da yeteneği, gururunu koruyacak güvene sahipti

herkesten önce. Ama tam o anda, yüzü tüm alçaltıldı.

aşağı doğru. Çok garipti!

Bu adam bunu bilerek yapıyor olmalı! Diğer insanlar verirken bile

Serbest bırakılırsa, yakalanmamak için gizlice yaparlardı. Yine de, bu adam

Başkalarının bunu bilmemesinden korkuyormuş gibi gösteriş yapıyor!

Chu Chuyan'ın taşan utancıyla karşılaştırıldığında, Shi Kun hissetti

sanki zihinsel bir çöküşün eşiğindeymiş gibi. "Sahip olduğun soru

poz vermek haksızlıktır!"

Shi Kun'u +711 Rage için başarıyla trolledin!

Zu An ona bir bakış attı ve sordu, "Sen öğretmen misin, yoksa ben öğretmen miyim?

öğretmen mi?"

Shi Kun, Zu An'a soğukça bakarak bağırdı, "Eğer öğretmen sizseniz,

böyle bariz bir kayırmacılık göstermemelisin!"

Zu An sakince omuz silkti. "Madem benim öğretmen olduğumu biliyorsun, yapmalısın

ayrıca sormak istediğim soruyu seçmenin benim hakkım olduğunu da bilin. Bu

Yerinde sorduğum sorular rastgele. Sadece kendinizinkine sahipsiniz

Daha zor bir sorunuz varsa suçlamak için şans."

Diğer öğrenciler suskun bırakıldı. Bu adam nasıl tükürüyor?

Hiç utanmadan böyle bariz yalanlar? Bunu hepimiz görebiliyoruz

Burada karının yanında yer alıyorsun, tamam mı?

Shi Kun hala bu konuyu protesto etmek istiyordu ama Zu An onu kesti.

"Öğretmenin olarak, sana da bir hayat dersi vermek zorunda hissediyorum. Konsept

Bu dünyada adalet yoktur. Genç efendi Shi'yi ele alalım

Örneğin, ağzınızda altın bir kaşıkla doğdunuz. Sen vardı

Temelinizi genç yaştan itibaren oluşturmak için en iyi öğretmenler ve asla

herhangi bir yetişim kaynağı eksikliği vardı. Buna karşılık, halktan gelenler mücadele ediyor

Sadece geçimini sağlamak için. Ne kadar sıkı çalışmaları gerektiğini biliyor musunuz?

Sadece tek bir ki taşı elde etmek için mi? Bu nedenle, yetenekleri eşit olsa bile

Sizinle birlikte, hala arkanızda kalıyorlar. Ayağa kalkacak mısın?

onlar için ve bunun haksızlık olduğunu mu söylüyorsun?"

"Siz..." Shi Kun, Zu An'ın sözlerini çürütemedi.

Sınıftaki öğrenciler onaylayarak başını salladı. Çoğu düşündü

Zu An'ın sadece utanmazlığından dolayı bir aritmetik öğretmeni haline geldiğini

ve şans, bu yüzden ona tepeden baktılar. Yine de, kim düşünebilirdi ki,

gerçekten böyle derin sözlerden bahsedebilir miydi?

Gerçekten de, gerçek adalet bu dünyada hiçbir zaman var olmadı. Görünüşü ne olursa olsun

Yüzeyde görülebilen adalet sadece istikrar önlemleriydi

egemen sınıf tarafından daha az ayrıcalıklı olanları yatıştırmak için uygulandı.

Gökyüzü sınıfındaki öğrencilerin çoğu önde gelen geçmişlerden geliyordu,

Ama aralarında sıradan siviller de vardı. İlişkilendiler

Zu An'ın sözleriyle derinden ilgili. Üstün olarak doğmuş olmaları şanstı

Gelişim yetenekleri vardı, ama yine de yine de daha çok çalışmak zorundaydılar.

sadece güçlü bir güce sahip olma ayrıcalığına sahip olanlara ayak uydurmak için başkası

Destek. Tüm deneyimleri, ne kadar adaletsiz olduklarının farkına varmalarını sağladı

dünya öyleydi.

Chu Chuyan da başını kaldırdı ve yükselen figüre baktı

podyumda duruyor. Bir an için kendini sersemlemiş buldu. Bu mu?

tanıdığım aynı adam? Klanın işleriyle o kadar meşgul olsaydım ki

Sonunda onu ihmal etti, kim olduğunu anlamaya bile çalışmadı.

kişi?

Ancak, öfkeli Shi Kun işlerin böyle dinlenmesine izin vermeye istekli değildi.

"Burada sadece çarpık mantığınızı zorluyorsunuz. Burada herhangi bir öğretmen bulabiliriz,

ve eminim ki sorduğunuz soruların

önyargılı!"

Zu An omuz silkti. "Evet, gerçekten de kasıtlı olarak Chu Chuyan'ın yanındayım.

Bu konuda ne yapmayı düşünüyorsunuz? Eğer kendi karımın yanında yer almazsam, kim

yoksa yanında mı olmalıyım? Sen? Sanki benim şeker bebeğimmişsin gibi değilsin. Bile

Eğer bir şeker bebek arıyorsam, Xie Xiu şurada çok daha iyi görünüyor

sen!"

Zu An'ın onu karısı Chu Chuyan olarak çağırdığını duymak ilk kez

hayat, el üstünde tutulduğunu ve önemsendiğini hissettim. Yıllar geçtikçe, her zaman onun olmuştu

Chu klanı için kaleyi tutmak, fırtınalardan korumak. Garip geldi

alıcı tarafta olmak, ama kalbini ısıttı.

Ama bu adam şeker bebeği ile ne demek istedi?

Bu arada, Xie Xiu sessizce gösterinin tadını çıkarmaya niyetliydi.

Sideline. Kral Qi'nin grubundan biri olarak, bundan çok memnundu.

İmparatoriçe'nin fraksiyonundan Shi Kun'un toplum içinde utandığını görün.

Ayrıca, iki klan Chu klanı için yarışıyordu, bu yüzden Chu klanı olacaktı.

İkisi arasındaki çatışmada bir tırmanma görmekten çok memnunum.

Yine de, Zu An'ın aniden adını söyleyeceğini kim düşünebilirdi?

Ve dahası, şeker bebeğim?

Yüzü hemen bir elma gibi kırmızıya döndü. Kadınsı görünümü

Her zaman kalbinde bir diken olmuştu ve kimse bunun hakkında konuşmaya cesaret edememişti

daha önce onun huzurunda. Yine de, Zu An sınıftan hemen önce bahsettiğinde,

Garip bir şekilde kendini düşündüğü kadar öfkeli bulmadı. Sadece

biraz garip ve utanç verici hissettim.

Sanırım bu adam her zaman söylediği her şeyin sadece hissettiği kadar kaba olmuştur

Bu noktada normal, bu yüzden onun sözlerine çok kızmıyorum.

"Ama yine de, o gerçekten bir tuhaf!" Xie Xiu özellikle kızgın olmayabilir

Bu konuda, ama gelecekte iyiliği iade etme ihtiyacı olduğunu hissetti.

Bu arada, Wu Qing'in gözleri şaşkınlıkla genişledi. O kadar büyük olamaz

Kardeş Xie Xiu beni reddetti çünkü onunla bir ilişkisi var

Adam?

Birbirine sıkıca bastırılmış iki cismin birkaç görüntüsü ortaya çıktı

zihninde, kontrolsüz bir şekilde titremesine neden oluyordu. Dayanamıyorum

Bunun farkında olarak, Zu An'a delici bir bakış attı. Bu nefret dolu adam aslında

Adamımı çalmak istiyor, ha?!

Gösterinin yıldızı Shi Kun, sanki birisi bok atmaya zorlamış gibi görünüyordu

boğazı. Güzel görünüşü nedeniyle, sahip olan insanlar vardı.

Gizlice şaka bir şekilde sırtının arkasında bir 'erkek oyuncağı' olarak adlandırdı ve

Her zaman bu insanları kazdığınızdan ve yapımcıya gönderdiğinizden emin olun.

Yine de, aslında ona çocukken bile Xie Xiu'nun altında olduğu söyleniyordu

oyuncak? Nedense bu söz onu daha da çileden çıkardı mı? Siz misiniz?

Ondan daha az çekici olduğumu mu söylüyorsun?!

Görünüşüyle her zaman gurur duyan biri için, yapamazdı

bunu kabul et!

"Zu An, çok ileri gitmesen iyi edersin! Sana dokunamayabilirim

Akademi, ama dışarıda, seni korkunç bir şekilde öldürmek için birçok yolum var

ölüm!"

Shi Kun bir insandan bu kadar nefret edeceğini hiç düşünmemişti. Vardı

her zaman cesaret eden herkese karşı intikam almak için inancı olmuştur.

Hemen ona karşı durun, bu yüzden etrafında neredeyse hiç düşmanı yoktu. Zu An

bu kadar uzun süre sonra hala etrafında dolanıp duran tek kişiydi.

İşleri daha da kötüleştirmek için, Zu An'ın kimliği başa çıkmayı çok daha zor hale getirdi

Onunla birlikte, Shi klanının bağlantılarını da çekse bile.

Bu noktaya kadar düşünen Shi Kun, elinde olmadan Snow'a onun için kin besledi

Yetersiz -lik. Neden bu adamdan daha önce kurtulmadın? Keşke

Başardın, bu halk aşağılamasından geçmek zorunda kalmam!

Shi Kun'un tehdidi Chu Chuyan'ın yüzünün soğumasına neden oldu. Ancak, ondan önce

Her şeyi söyleyebilirdi, Zu An çoktan ajitasyonla bağırmaya başlamıştı,

"Herkes, buna tanıklık etmelisiniz! O adam kendi başına söyledi

Beni öldüreceğini söyledi. Gelecekte başıma bir şey gelirse,

katil ondan başkası olmamalı!"

Sınıftaki tüm öğrenciler Zu An'ınkine karşı oldukça uyuşmuştu

şimdiye kadar utanmazlık. Sadece sempati dolu bakışları yönlendirebilirlerdi.

Shi Kun.

Shi Kun inanılmaz derecede boğulmuş hissetti. Öfke gerçekten kafasına gitmiş olmalı

aslında kamuoyunda böyle dikkatsiz bir açıklama yapması için.

Sonra, Zu An'ın ifadesi bir zamanlar sert bir öğretmeninkine geri döndü

Daha fazlası ve otoriter bir şekilde söyledi, "Shi Kun, seninle konuştun

ders boyunca birçok kez öğretmen. Akademiye gitmek

Kural, öğlene kadar sahanın ortasında durmanı cezalandırıyorum."

"Beni mi cezalandırıyorsun?" O kadar saçmaydı ki Shi Kun gülmeye başladı

yerine. "Gitmeyi reddedersem benim hakkımda ne yapabilirsin?"

Geçmişiyle, dünyanın en iyi akademilerinde kolayca okuyabilirdi.

başkent. Sadece bir Brightmoon'daki adaylığını daha az umursamazdı

Akademi.

"Eğer reddedersen, konuyu akademiye bildireceğim. Tabii ki, seninle

Arka planda, akademinin seni kovmayacağını düşünüyorum. Ancak,

Bu sefer Ursae Zindanı'na girmeyi düşünmenize gerek yok.

Zu An, Shi Kun'un neden aniden burada göründüğünü merak ediyordu. Verilen

Önde gelen dükal klanlardan birinin çocuğu olarak geçmişi

Başkent, sadece katılmak için buraya kadar seyahat etmesi için hiçbir neden yoktu

Brightmoon Akademisi.

Başlangıçta, Shi Kun'un Chu Chuyan için burada olduğunu düşündü, ama bu kadar ileri gitmek için

Bir kadın için, Shi Kun gerçekten sadık bir adam olsa bile, bu pek olası değildi.

Shi klanının büyükleri onun bu şekilde dalga geçmesine izin verirdi.

O zaman Ursae Zindanı'nın açıldığı haberini hatırladı.

İlerleme ve Shi Kun'un gelişinin zamanlaması bunun için çok kesin görünüyordu

sadece bir tesadüf ol.

Ve Zu An'ın beklediği gibi, Shi Kun'un gülümsemesi

Açıklama. Gerçekten de Ursae Zindanı için Brightmoon Şehrine gelmişti,

yani bir Evanescent Lotus olduğuna dair güvenilir istihbarat aldığı için

çok yakında zindanda çiçek açacaktı. Kişi bilmelidir ki bir

Ondan tek bir yaprak, kişinin ekimini bir adım yükseltebilirdi. Bunu yapmak zordu

Böyle büyük ayartmalara direnin.

Bu fırsatı sadece bir kavga yüzünden kaybederse gerçekten aptal olurdu

en düşük seviyedeki biriyle.

Bu yüzden derin bir nefes aldı ve homurdandı, "Sadece sahada durmalıyım,

Sağ? İyi! Bugünkü olayları akademiye de rapor edeceğim. İnanıyorum ki

Akademi de senin kasıtlı eylemlerine göz yummayacak!"

"İşte, bu uyarıyı boynuna tak." Zu An aniden bir

Hiçbir yerden tahta bir uyarı çıktı ve Shi Kun'a iletti.

Shi Kun bir an için şaşırdı. Üzerindeki kelimelere bir göz attı

Tahta bir uyarı ve öfkeden neredeyse bayılıyordu.

"Ben, Shi Kun, benimle konuştuğum için burada durduğum için cezalandırıldım.

öğretmen. Bakabilirsin ama lütfen gülme."

Bölüm 106: Sen Olsan Bile

Beni Reddetmeye Devam Et

Shi Kun'un göz kapakları kontrolsüz bir şekilde seğirdi. Gerçekte, ayakta durmak için cezalandırılmak

Sahada gerçekten fazla bir şey yoktu. Merkezinde olmaya alışkındı.

yine de dikkat. Görünüşünden biri doğal olarak

nereye giderse gitsin ilgi odağı. Keskin zekasıyla,

Cezayı kolayca bir hayran toplantısına dönüştürün.

Sadece Zu An'ın işini yapma fikrini bulduğu için çok öfkelenmişti.

aşağılayıcı teklif vermek.

Ancak, eğer bu tahta notayı etrafına takmak zorunda kalsaydı,

ceza değişti. Sanki sergilenen bir evcil hayvanmış gibi yapardı

herkesin görmesi için halka açık.

"Bununla ne demek istiyorsun?" Shi Kun öfkeyle Zu An'a baktı.

Shi Kun'u +444 Rage için başarıyla trolledin!

"Bunu senin itibarını düşünerek yapıyorum," diye yanıtladı Zu An

bir gülümseme. "Sadece Altıncı Genç Efendi'nin ne kadar aşağılayıcı olduğunu hayal edin.

Shi klanı bir kalabalık tarafından alay konusu olacaktı! Bu yüzden özel olarak hazırladım

Bu tahta bildiri onlara gülmemelerini hatırlatmak içindir. Bu bir iyi niyet gösterisi

benim payıma."

İyi niyet, başım!

Shi Kun gerçekten delirdiğini hissetti. İşte o zaman öyleydi

burada başka bir sorunu hatırlattı. "Bir dakika, ne zaman hazırlandın

belirteç? Benimle en başından beri uğraşmayı planlamış olamazsın.

Başla mı?"

Zu An sakince omuz silkti. "İhtiyaç duyulması ihtimaline karşı sadece buna hazırlanıyordum.

Bu kadar işbirlikçi olacağınızı kim bilebilirdi ki? Nasıl

Proaktif davrandın, bunu ortaya çıkarmazsam utanırdım."

"..." Shi Kun.

Shi Kun'u +813 Rage için başarıyla trolledin!

Sınıftaki öğrenciler sabırla beklediler, Shi Kun'un bunu yapacağını düşündüler.

Zu An'ı havaya uçurun. Eğer öyleyse, Chu Chuyan korumak için ileri adım atmak zorunda kalacaktı

Zu An. Belki de akademinin üst kademeleri alarma bile geçebilirdi.

Evet, bu Yang Wei'nin derslerine katılmaktan çok daha ilginç.

Gelin, bize böyle öğretmenlerden bir düzine daha getirin!

Chu Chuyan da durumu yakından takip ediyordu. Eğer Shi Kun olsaydı

Bir hamle yapmak için, Zu An ciddi bir tehlike altında olacaktı. Adım atmaya hazırdı

içinde ve ihtiyaç duyulursa Zu An'ı koruyun.

Beklenmedik bir şekilde, Shi Kun dostane bir şeyi ortaya çıkarmadan önce derin bir nefes aldı

gülümsemek. "Evet, gerçekten de istemeden konuştuğum için daha önce çok aceleciydim

size geri dönelim. Cezalandırılmam benim için doğru. Kurallara uyulmalı

akademide disiplini sağlamak için."

Bu sözleri söyleyerek, tahta bildirimi aldı ve oradan dışarı çıktı.

sakince sınıf. Hareketleri o kadar zarifti ki, kendini bir

orada bir an için aydınlanmış bilge.

Sınıftaki birkaç kız öğrencinin gözleri hemen titremeye başladı

pırıltı.

"Waa, ne kadar havalı!"

"Genç efendi Shi gerçek bir beyefendi gibi gerçekten arıtılmış."

"Aşk rakibiyle tanıştıktan sonra bir an için soğukkanlılığını kaybetmiş olmalı."

"Onun bu kadar duygusal olduğunu hiç bilmiyordum. Gittikçe daha fazla düşkün oluyorum

O'nun."

...

Zu An şaşırmıştı. Shi Kun'un şiddetle karşı koyacağını düşünüyordu,

ve bunun için de bir karşı önlemi vardı. Beklenmedik bir şekilde, ikincisi

aynen böyle teslim oldu.

Hayran kızlarının önünde itibarını korumak için geri adım atıyor mu?

Yine de bu mantıklı değil.

O anda, Shi Kun çoktan sınıftan çıkmıştı ve

Yüzündeki gülümseme hemen iz bırakmadan kayboldu. Değiştirildi

soğuklukla.

Hmph, daha önce dikkatsiz davrandım. Böyle sözleri geride bırakmamalıydım. Eğer

O adama bir şey olur, şüphe benim üzerimde olur. Sorun değil

Şimdi ne kadar kızgınım, bestelenmiş bir dış cephe olarak kalmalıyım ki

Gelecekte başkaları beni sorgularsa sorumluluktan en azından kaçın.

O adamı yapacağına çoktan karar vermişti

dünyanın yüzünden kaybolup gitsin.

Doğal olarak, aptalca Zu An'ın peşinden gitmez ve tahtayı asmazdı

boynunun etrafında dikkat edin. Sahaya doğru yol alırken, gelişigüzel bir şekilde

Elini bildirimin üzerine kaydırdı ve üzerindeki kelimeleri sildi. O sıkıştı

Kollarının altındaki tahta uyarı gelişigüzel ve ona serin bir izlenim bıraktı.

İşte o zaman aniden yanında bir figür belirdi. Yaşlı adamdı

bunca zamandır onu takip eden. "Genç efendi, bir şey yapmalı mıyım?

Hareket et ve o küçük öldür mü?"

Shi Kun elini salladı ve cevapladı, "Acele yok. Eğer hemen sonra ölürse

Bizimle bir çatışma yaşarsak, şüphe üzerimizde olacaktır. Chu klanının

güç küçümsenmemelidir. Eğer eylemlerimiz onları Kral'a doğru iterse

Qi'nin tarafında büyük bir kayıp yaşardık."

"Ama o aslında sana böyle davranmaya cüret etti. Ben bile hissediyorum

Sadece onu izleyerek sinirlendim!" yaşlı adam homurdandı. Görmüş ve duymuştu

Sınıfta daha önce olan her şey açıkça..

"Endişelenme, başka biri bununla uğraşacak. Bu olacak

Chu ve Yuan klanı arasında yarın Klanlar Turnuvası. Yuan'ı arayın

Wendong gecenin ilerleyen saatlerinde bitti. . . Hayır, kendim bir hamle yapmamalıyım. Yapacağım

Yuan Wendong'u sakinleştirmenin bir yolunu düşünmeyi sana bırak. Ona numara yapmasını söyle

Bir kaza geçirip Zu An'ı yarın düello ringinde öldürür. En uç noktada bile

En azından ikincisini sakat bırakmalı." dedi Shi Kun soğukça.

Yıllar geçtikçe, onu rahatsız eden tek bir kişi bile yoktu.

deplasmanda scot-free.

Kısa süre sonra sınıfın sonu gelmişti ve öğrenciler hızlıca Shi Kun'u fark ettiler

sahada duruyor. Meraktan etrafa toplandılar,

neden orada durduğunu merak ediyordu. Dedikodu hızla yayıldı ve

Shi Kun'un cezalandırıldığını duymaları uzun sürmedi

sınıftaki öğretmeniyle konuşurken.

Shi Kun'un hayran kızlarının çoğu hemen öfke durumuna düştü.

"Bu Zu An çok utanmaz! Açıkça genç efendiyi seçmiyor mu?

Shi?"

"Gerçekten de! Onun gibi bir öğretmen aslında karısına karşı açıkça önyargılı davranıyor.

Chu Chuyan'a sadece işleri zorlaştırmak için böyle basit bir soru verdi.

genç efendi Shi. Bunun için onu ihbar edeceğim!"

"Evet, onu birlikte ihbar etmeliyiz!"

...

Öfkeli kız öğrencilerle karşılaştırıldığında, erkek öğrenciler çok şey aldı

daha iyi. Shi Kun geldiğinden beri, tüm bu kadınlar

onları biraz rahatsız eden bir çılgınlığa girdi. Böylece, onlar

Shi Kun'un böylesine utanç verici bir pozisyona yerleştirildiğini görmekten çok memnunum.

Bu fırsatı değerlendirmek isteyen epeyce kişi vardı.

Shi Kun ile alay etti, ama yaklaşmadan önce, çoktan zorlandılar

Güçlü bir aura ile geri çekilin.

"Scram!" Shi Kun'un yanındaki yaşlı adam soğukça tükürdü.

Öğrenciler kendilerini kontrolsüz bir şekilde titreme karşısında buldular.

Yaşlı adam ve ancak o zaman Shi'nin

Kun, gücendirmeyi göze alamayacakları biriydi. Böylece, hızlı bir şekilde

geri çekildi.

Personel ofisinde, Öğrenci Usta Lu De'nin yüzü sahaya şöyle baktı:

gözleri hafifçe kısıldı.

O yaşlı adamın gücünün derecesini ölçemiyorum. Hatta hizmetkarları bile

Shi klanı bu kadar güçlü mü? Görünüşe göre küçümsüyorum

Shi klanının birikimi. Gerçekten de bunlara karışmamak en iyisidir

önde gelen klanlar. Hmph! Zu'dan beri sorun devam ediyor gibi geliyor

Akademiye bir kişi geldi!

Bu arada, Zu An Öfke noktalarının ne kadar hızlı olduğuna hayret ediyordu

hesabına teslim edildi. Neden bu kadar çok erkek grubu olduğuna şaşmamalı

önceki hayatımda. Kadınlar elbette putları için hiçbir şeyi geri tutmazlar!

"Kayınbirader, kayınbirader! Ablam daha önce nasıl tepki verdi?

dersiniz? Acele et ve bana bundan bahset!" Chu Huanzhao hızla oraya doğru koştu

Zu An'ın görüşü heyecanla. Başlangıçta sınıf atlamayı planlıyordu.

Olay yerine kendi gözleriyle baktı ama en kısa sürede Lu De'ye rastladı

sınıftan çıkarken. Dehşete kapıldı, sadece hızlı bir şekilde yapabildi

Geri döndü ve sınıfın sonuna kadar sabırsızlıkla bekledi.

Yine de, merakı tüm bu süre boyunca kalbini gıdıklıyordu, bu yüzden

Sınıf biter bitmez dışarı fırladı.

"Bu adamla nasıl kandırmak için işbirliği yapabilirsin?!" Beklentili bakış

Chu Huanzhao'nun yüzü hemen Chu Chuyan'ı bir kez daha tüttürdü. O

küçük kız kardeşini kulağından tutmak için uzandı.

"Hehehe, ablam oldukça ilginç bir şey göstermiş olmalı

Oradaki tepki!" Chu Huanzhao hemen Zu'nun arkasına sığındı

Heyecanla haykırdığı gibi.

Chu Chuyan bakışlarını yavaşça geri çevirmeden önce ona kızgınlıkla baktı

gözlerinde entrika olan Zu An'a. "Nasıl oldu da bir insan olmayı başardın?

aritmetik öğretmeni?"

Böyle bir gidişatın nasıl gerçekleştiğini hayal bile edemezdi.

"Hala ortaya çıkarmanı bekleyen birçok sürprizim var." diye cevapladı Zu An

Neşe -yle.

Chu Chuyan yumuşak bir şekilde kıkırdadı. "Evet, bugün beni şaşırttın. Fakat

Shi klanının Altıncı Genç Efendisini açıkça gücendirdiğine göre,

Gelecekte tehlikeyle karşı karşıya kalabilirsiniz."

"O adam karıma imrendiğinde ne yapabilirim? Eğer ona bir şey öğretmezsem

ders, her tarafıma tırmanabilir!" Zu An harrumphed..

"Karınız kim!" Chu Chuyan'ın yüzü kızardı. Ancak, en kısa sürede

Bu sözler ağzından çıktı, aniden akıntıyı hatırladı

İkisi arasındaki ilişki ve derin bir iç çekti. Hala öyle görünüyor ki

Yeni kimliğime alışmayı başaramadım.

"Her neyse, şimdilik dikkatli olmalısın. Yanımda kalmaya çalış

Eğer mümkünse Shi Kun seninle başa çıkması için birini göndermesin," diye hatırlattı Chu

Chuyan.

"Tatlım, beni reddetmeye devam etsen de, hala umursuyor gibi görünüyorsun

Güvenliğim hakkında," dedi Zu An gülümseyerek.

"Bana böyle dememeni söyledim!" Chu Chuyan ona keskin bir şekilde baktı. "Ben sadece

Benim yüzümden zarar görmeni istemiyorum."

Zu An uzaktan Shi Kun'a baktı ve gülümsedi, "Emin olun, muhtemelen

önümüzdeki iki gün içinde peşimden kimseyi göndermeyeceğim. Bu Klanlar olacak

Zaten yarından sonraki gün turnuva. Beni açıkça öldürebildiği için

Düello yüzüğü, aşırı bir şey yapması için hiçbir neden yok."

Shi Kun'un bakış açısından düşündüğünde, kesinlikle bir şey yapmayı seçerdi.

Klanlar Turnuvası sırasında kendi kendine hareket et.

Chu Chuyan, Zu An'ın söylediklerinin ne yaptığını fark ettiğinde derin düşüncelere daldı

duyumsamak da. Başını kaldırdı, sadece Zu An'ın kendine güveniyle yüzleşmek için

ifade. Tam o anda, aniden onun çok iyi olduğunu hissetti.

onun nasıl olduğunu düşündüğünden farklıydı.

Daha sonra kayda değer hiçbir şey olmadı ve gün hızla geçti.

Dersler nihayet gün için bittiğinde, Zu An Shang'a gitmek istedi

Liuyu'nun ikametgahı, kayıt deniz kabuğunu ona iade etmek için. Ancak, bakmak

Yanında duran iki kız kardeşe karşı fikrini değiştirdi.

Onlardan önce başka bir kadın hakkında konuşmak akıllıca bir hareket gibi gelmedi.

Akademiden ayrıldılar ve arabalarına bindiler. Eskort altında

Chu klanının muhafızları, Chu Malikanesi'ne geri döndüler. Cheng Shouping vardı

Zu An'ı almaya geldi, her zamanki gibi, sadece kendini dışarıda terk edilmiş bulmak için.

Genellikle, en azından genç efendi ve ikincisiyle yürüyebilirdim

Hanımefendi, ama şimdi sadece onların arkasından takip edebiliyorum. Ahhh, ilk özledim gibi geliyor

ikinci bayan kadar ulaşılabilir değil. Keşke genç efendi evlenseydi

ikinci özledim...

Ancak, kısa süre sonra başka bir perspektiften düşündü.

Genç efendi ve ilk bayan birbirleriyle yakınlaşırsa, bir gün olacak

Chu'nun damadı olarak resmen tanındığı gelsin

zümre. O zamana kadar duruşum da yükselecek. Hmmm, eğer genç efendi

İkinci hanımefendiyle de evlenirsem, duruşum daha da yükselecek mi?

Cheng Shouping hızla bu düşünceleri bastırdı.

Şaka yapıyor olmalısın! Genç efendi sadece biraz daha iyi görünüyor ve

benden daha şanslı. Bunun dışında, benden daha iyi olduğu hiçbir şey yok

da. Böyle bir şey onun başına nasıl gelebilirdi?

Akşam yemeğinde, Chu Zhongtian ve Qin Wanru onları bir kez daha çağırdı,

Yarın onlarla Klanlar Turnuvası hakkında konuşmayı umuyorum.

Zu An elinde olmadan işlerin o zamandan beri nasıl değiştiğini düşünmeden edemedi

İlk önce buraya geldim. O zamanlar, yemeğini sadece kendi yemeğinde tek başına yiyebiliyordu.

Oda, ama şimdi, sık sık ana masada onlara katılıyordu. Üstüne üstlük

Chu Chuyan bugün ona birkaç kez gülümsemiş gibi görünüyordu.

Pui pui pui, neden sadece birkaç gülümsemeyle bu kadar mutlu oluyorum? Gerçekten olurdum

sadece bu kadarıyla tatmin olursam hiçbir şey için iyi bir şey!

Zu An sonunda her şeyin Chu Chuyan'ın da olduğu sonucuna vardı

güzel. İnsanlar görsel yaratıklardı, bu yüzden ona yardım edilemezdi.

Chu Chuyan kadar güzel birine kolayca yenik düş.

Ama bunlardan bahsetmişken, ben de oldukça iyi görünüyorum. Karım neden yapmıyor?

O zaman benim huzurumda salya akıtmak mı? Bu mantıklı değil!

Zu An hala şaşkınlık içindeyken, Chu Huanzhao çoktan başlamıştı

Zu An'ın nasıl bir aritmetik öğretmeni haline geldiği hakkında gevezelik etmek.

Akademi, bazı detayları abartmasına rağmen. Dürüst olmak gerekirse, o hissetti

bunun için böyle patlayıcı dedikoduları şişelemekten havaya uçuracağını

uzun zamandır onu dışarı çıkarmak harika hissettirdi.

"Zu An'ın bir kişi olmayı başardığını duymak gerçekten cesaret verici.

Brightmoon Akademisi'nin aritmetik öğretmeni!" Chu Zhongtian gülümsedi

kalbinin dibi. Damadının yazık olduğunu düşündü.

Hiçbir şey için iyi bir şey, ama sonra bir şey için iyi olduğu ortaya çıktı

tüm. Söylemeye gerek yok, bu kutlamaya değer bir şeydi.

Qin Wanru da haberi duyunca şaşırdı. Bir süre Zu An'a baktı

iken, ama onun önünde oturan yoksun adamın görüntüleri ve bir

Akademinin öğretmeni basitçe örtüşmezdi. Öyle oldu ki Zu

O anda da bir kıkırdama, bir şekilde onu kızdırdı. Böylece, o sona erdi

Harrumphing, "Sırf sen yüzünden bu kadar neşeli olacağını düşünmek

aritmetik öğretmeni oldu! İlk olarak, sen sadece geçici bir insansın

Kraliyet mahkemesi yeni bir öğretmen atadığında değiştirilecek öğretmen

üzerinde. Dahası, Huanzhao'dan duyduklarıma dayanarak, sen

Sınıfta genç efendi Shi? Sadece kendinizin önüne geçmiyor musunuz?

çünkü bir gücü ele geçirmeyi başardın mı? Sen gerçekten bir

hayal kırıklığı!"

Zu An sadece çaresizce başını sallayabildi. Eminim bir tane almak için şanssızım

Ne yaparsam yapayım hataları seçen kayınvalidem.

Bunu görünce, Chu Huanzhao elinde olmadan Zu An için ayağa kalktı, "Anne,

Bugün denize giren Shi Kun'du. Kardeşini suçlamamalısın-

bunun için yasa. Şu anda, birisinin Zu'yu incitmeye çalışacağından daha çok endişeleniyorum

Yarın düello halkasında."

Bölüm 107: Keskin Zekâlı

Velet

"Onu incitmeye mi çalışıyorsun?" Qin Wanru şaşırmıştı. İçgüdüsel olarak cevap verdi

Buna karşılık, "Birinin onu incitmeye çalışacağı kadar harika olan nedir?

Bu anlamsız şeyler hakkında düşünmek yerine, neden odaklanmıyorsunuz?

yarın Yuan klanına karşı savaşacak mısın?"

Chu Chuyan, Qin Wanru'nun sözlerine biraz çelişkili baktı, tereddüt etti

konu hakkında konuşması gerekip gerekmediği.

Chu Huanzhao ise o kadar sabırlı değildi. "Anne, sen misin

Yuan Wendong'un zaten açıkça ilan ettiğini biliyorum.

Klanlar Turnuvası sırasında kayınbiraderimi sakat mı bırakacaksınız? Sanki öyle değilmiş gibi

Yeterince, kayınbiraderim de bugün Shi Kun'u kızdırdı. Shi'yi söyleyebilirim

Kun dar görüşlü bir adamdır, bu yüzden kesinlikle kendi adamını düzeltmeye çalışırdı.

Burada intikam!"

Qin Wanru buna cevap verdi: "Yuan Wendong'un düşmesi mükemmel değil mi?

planımız için mi? Zu An'ın güvenliğine gelince, bunun için endişelenmemize gerek kalmayacak

çünkü sonunda düello ringine çıkması için ona ihtiyacımız olmayacak.

Ayrıca, baban ve ben de orada olacağız. Sence yapar mıyız?

Yuan arkadaşının Zu An'a zarar vermesini sessizce mi izliyorsun?"

"Korkarım ki Yuan klanının aklında başka planlar var. Bazıları için

Bu yüzden bu konuda biraz tedirgin hissediyorum," dedi Chu Chuyan.

"Evet, dikkatli olmak en iyisi olur. Hong Xingying'in

ilk maç. O, kendi neslindeki en güçlü olanlardan biri ve o değil

Chu klanımızdaki en güçlü olanı. Onun alması uygun olurdu

İlk maç ve Yuan klanını dene," dedi Chu Zhongtian. "Aradım

Onları eğitmek için birkaç gün önce geri döndüler. Olacaklarını sanmıyorum

Yuan klanı veya Wu klanı ile uğraşırken çok fazla sorun var."

Zu An, Hong'u görmediğinde ne kadar pişman olduğunu düşündü

Xingying bugün erken saatlerde sınıftaydı, ama çağrıldığı ortaya çıktı

özel eğitim için geri döndü.

Qin Wanru Zu An'a döndü ve konuştu, "Biliyorum ki sende senin olduğunu biliyorum.

Hong Xingying ile farklılıklar. İkinizin nasıl olduğu umurumda değil

Genellikle, ama yarın onu kışkırtmamalısınız, çünkü daha az performans gösterir.

ruh hali nedeniyle tatmin edici."

Chu Huanzhao devam eden kayırmacılığa dayanamadı. "Anne, benim

Kayınbirader yarın da savaşacak! Onu umursamamalı mısın?

ruh hali de mi?"

Qin Wanru gözlerini devirdi. "O sadece Yuan Wendong'u oyalamak için orada. O

sahaya çıkmaya bile gerek kalmayacak!"

Chu Zhongtian kahkahalara boğuldu, "Zu An, almak zorunda değilsin

çok endişeli. Eğer sıra sana gelirse, yenilgiyi kabul edebilirsin."

Chu Zhongtian gibi dürüst bir adam bile karısının görüşüne katılıyordu.

Zu An buna zaten alışmıştı, bu yüzden gülümseyerek cevapladı, "Endişelenme. Eğer

Yarın savaşmam gerekiyor, bu Chu klanının bir

tehlikeli pozisyon. Eğer öyleyse, işleri tersine çevirmek için elimden gelenin en iyisini yapacağım."

En sonunda sıraya girmesinin kader olduğunu hissetti. Sonuçta,

Şovun yıldızı genellikle en arkada göründü, değil mi?

"Pui! Burada daha güzel bir şey söylemen gerekmez mi?" Qin Wanru Zu'ya baktı

An, böyle uğursuz sözleri nasıl söylediğinden mutsuzdu.

Sinirlendiğini hissederek ikinci kızına döndü ve "Huanzhao,

Başkaları için endişelenmek yerine, kendiniz için endişelenmelisiniz.

Günlerinizi rölantide ve etrafta dalga geçerek geçiriyorsunuz, bu da uygulamanızla sonuçlanıyor

şimdiye kadar sadece üçüncü dereceye ulaştı. Yükselen ikinci son kişi sen olacaksın

yarın. Ablanız turnuvaya yerleşebilmelidir.

İlk birkaç maç, bu yüzden umarım, savaşa katılmak ve almak zorunda kalmazsınız.

canı yandı."

"Orh~" Chu Huanzhao memnuniyetsizlikle bağırdı. Ancak, düşünce

Kayınbiraderinin tam önündeydi ve ruh halini biraz yükseltti.

Chu Zhongtian, Chu Chuyan'a döndü ve konuştu, "Yarın, sen, Hong

Xingying, Yue Shan, Chu Hongcai ve Chu Yucheng yükselecek.

Bu beş maç bir paket servis olmalı. Yeter ki bir maç daha alalım

Bunların dışında, zaferi yakalayabilmeliyiz."

Zu An gizlice Chu Huanzhao'nun kollarını çekiştirdi ve usulca sordu, "Chu kim?

Hongcai ve Chu Yucheng?"

Chu Huanzhao annesine ve ablasına bakmak için başını kaldırdı, oyunculuk yaptı

Sanki bir öğrenci öğretmenin dikkatini çekip çekmediğini kontrol ediyormuş gibi

Zu An'a durumu hızlıca açıklamadan önce, "Chu Hongcai

İkinci amcamın oğlu, muhafızlarımızın kaptan yardımcısı olarak görev yapıyordu. O

Klanımızın Ruh Deresi'ni korumaktan sorumluydu, ama sonunda

geçen gün kirlendi. Suçlama dışında, sessizce bunun üzerine düşünüyor

Günler geçtikçe, bu yüzden onu etrafta görmüyorsunuz.

"Chu Yucheng'e gelince, o benim üçüncü amcamın oğlu. Tombul bir çocuğu var

Gençken oldukça sevimli bir görünüme sahipti, ama basitçe

Büyüdüğünde şişman. Onun hakkında özellikle özel bir şey yok."

Zu An, Chu Zhongtian'a baktı. İkinci dal ve üçüncü şube hepsi

Oğullar doğurdunuz, ama hepinizin kızları var. Görünüşe göre koymuyorsun

yeterli çabayla.

Zu An'ın kadınlara karşı ayrımcılık yapması değil, öne çıkanlar için ayrımcılık yapmasıydı.

klanlar, onların iyiliği için oğul doğurmaları önemliydi.

miras. Chu Zhongtian ve Qin Wanru'nun oğulları olsaydı,

başlangıçta onunla evlenmek için Chu Chuyan'ı feda etmeye gerek kalmazdı.

Hmmm, o zaman aslında kayınpederime başarısız olduğu için teşekkür etmeliyim.

o zaman bu sorumluluk!

Aynı zamanda Qin Wanru'nun etkileşimlerini fark ettiği an da bu andı ve

Yüzü hemen hoşnutsuzlukla kaşlarını çattı. "Huanzhao, eğer işin biterse

akşam yemeğinde hemen odanıza gitmelisiniz. Almanız gerekenler

Yarınki performansınızı etkilememek için bol miktarda uyku."

İki kızımın nesi var? Gözleri nasıl bu kadar kötü olabilir?

Büyük kızımın Zu An ile evlenmesi bir şeydi - o bir şey için gidiyordu.

İlk etapta ortalama bir insan - ama ikincisinde neler oluyor?

kız? Neden Zu An'a gittikçe yaklaşıyor?

Chu Huanzhao hoşnutsuzlukla mırıldandı, "Az önce bunu söylememiş miydin?

yarın sahada bana ihtiyacın yok mu?"

Ancak, kendini annesinin öfkeli gözleriyle bulduğunda,

sadece isteksizce odasına geri döner.

Qin Wanru daha sonra Zu An'a bakmak için döndü. "Sen de dönmelisin. Biz hala

Yarınki turnuvayla ilgili detayları tartışmamız gerekiyor."

Onun tutumu, Zu An'ın yarışmaya katılmak için niteliksiz olduğunu açıkça ortaya koydu.

Tartışma. İlk olarak, Zu An'ın buradaki tek görevi Yuan'ı bağlamaktı

Wendong, bu yüzden tartışmalara katılmasına gerek yoktu.

Zu An cevap olarak sakince omuz silkti. Burada anlamlı bir şey yok

zaten. Daha erken geri dönebilirim.

Kapıyı kapattığında, belli belirsiz bir şekilde bazı kelimelerin geldiğini duyabiliyordu.

içinde.

"Yuan klanında en zorlu olan kişi Yuan olmalı

Wendong. Diğerleri hiç de tehdit değil. Wu klanına gelince, onların çoğu

Gençler bizimle rekabet edemiyor, bu yüzden onlar da bir tehdit değil..."

Zu An salondan çıkar çıkmaz, Cheng Shouping koştu

açık kahverengi bir gülümsemeyle yanına doğru ilerleyin. "Genç efendi, bir tane var mıydı?

hoş yemek?"

Bunu görünce, Zu An aniden böyle bir şeye sahip olmanın o kadar da kötü olmadığını hissetti

yanında görevli. Aklında bir fikir titreşti ve yakaladı

Cheng Shouping'in omzunu uzattı ve onu kenara çekti. "Klanlar için

Yarın turnuva, şehirde devam eden bahisler var mı?"

Cheng Shouping cevap olarak başını salladı. "Var. Çoğu insan gibi görünüyor

Chu klanımız hakkında daha iyimserler. Bahislerini bizim üzerimize yatırıyorlar

ilk özledim galibiyeti..."

Zu An hızlıca araya girdi, "Diğerleri hakkında konuşmayalım. Benim neyim

mevcut ödeme oranı?"

Cheng Shouping'in yüzünde tuhaf bir bakış vardı ve tek parmağını kaldırdı

yukarı.

"1:10?" Zu An kaşlarını çattı. "Biraz düşük, ama sanırım çok da kötü değil."

Tam cübbesinden banknot almak üzereyken Cheng

Shouping onun sözünü kesti, "Genç efendi, 1:10 değil, 1:100."

Cheng Shouping, gururlu genç efendinin öfkeleneceğini düşündü,

ama şaşırtıcı bir şekilde, ikincisi yürekten gülmeye başladı. "1:100? Hahahaha! O

Görünüşe göre cennet benim tarafımda! Onu zengin edeceğim!"

Cheng Shouping şaşkınlıkla gözlerini kırpıştırdı. Ne var ne yok? Yaptı mı

Genç efendi son zamanlarda çok fazla şok geçirdi ve delirdi mi?

Zu An aniden başka bir sorun fark etti ve aceleyle sordu, "Kim

Bayi? Sadece Silverhook Casino olamaz, değil mi?"

Silverhook Casino ona borçlu olduğu 7.500.000 gümüş taeli ödeyemedi

daha önce onu. Ödemek için parayı çatallayabilmeleri pek mümkün değildi

Onlardan bir kez daha öldürecek olsaydı.

Buna doğru, Cheng Shouping başını salladı ve cevapladı, "Hayır. Bu

Silverhook Casino size karşı kayıptan büyük bir darbe aldı

o zamanlar. Mali durumları sıkıntıda ve onların parasını kirlettiler.

itibar da. İşleri şu anda kötü gidiyor. Diğeri

Şehirdeki klanlar bu fırsatı kullanarak sessizce kendi klanlarını dışarı atıyorlar.

kendi kumar işiniz."

Zu An'ın gözleri parladı. "Bu kulağa mükemmel geliyor! İşte 20.000 gümüş tael. İstiyorum

Benim zaferime bahse girersin!"

Bir an sonra fikrini değiştirdi ve 10.000 gümüş taeli geri aldı.

"Unut gitsin, sadece 10.000 tael almak senin için işe yarayacak."

Şimdiye kadar gördüklerine dayanarak, bu dünya trajik bir şekilde korkunçtu.

matematik. Bu, kumarhanelerdeki ödeme oranlarından kolayca görülebilir.

Ucube kazalara karşı koruma önlemleri almadılar, bu tür

Birisi gerçekten şanslı olsaydı, potansiyel olarak iflas edebilirdi.

gazino. Onunla Silverhook Casino arasındaki önceki olay şuydu:

mükemmel bir örnek.

Zu An, bu sefer de aynı şeyin olacağından endişeliydi. Onun yerine

Kumarhanenin ödemede tamamen temerrüde düşmesi riskini göze alarak, tercih ederdi

kazancını kumarhanenin hala kabul edebileceği bir şeye indirgeyin.

Bu şekilde, en azından parasını alabilecekti. Bu yüzden sadece bahse girmeyi seçti

10.000 gümüş tael.

Ancak, Cheng Shouping bu sözleri duyunca bir telaşa uçtu.

"Genç efendi, bu şekilde para harcamamalısın

bunu yapacak imkanlara sahip ol!"

"Hiçbir şey bilmiyorsun. Sadece dediğimi yap! Benim için uygun değil

Şu anda dışarı çıkmak, bu yüzden benim yerime yapmana ihtiyacım var," Zu An

Harrumphed.

Cheng Shouping nefesinin altında homurdandı, "Eğer gerçekten bu kadar eminsen,

O zamanlar neden 10.000 gümüş tael aldın? Kimse endişelenir miydi

çok fazla para kazanmak hakkında mı? Sonunda, sadece kaybetmekten korkuyorsun ve

kayıplarınızı azaltmak istiyorum."

"Ne dedin?" Zu An, Cheng Shouping'e keskin bir şekilde baktı.

"N-fazla bir şey yok!" Cheng Shouping ışıldayan bir gülümsemeyle cevap verdi. "Genç

Usta, Chu klanı kumar oynamayı kesinlikle yasaklıyor. Onun kurallarını çiğnemeye cesaret edemiyorum."

"Tek yapman gereken kimsenin öğrenmediğinden emin olmak, değil mi?" Zu An

Cheng Shouping'in kıyafetlerine yüz gümüş tael doldurdu. "İşte, bu

Benim için bir iş yapmak için bonusun. Size sonra bazı temettüler vereceğim

Bahisten biraz para kazanıyorum."

Cheng Shouping'in gözleri parladı. Onun tavrı 180 derecelik bir değişiklik yaptı

uzakta. "Tabii ki! Hemen halledeceğim!"

Bununla birlikte, odadan dışarı fırladı.

Zu An ne kadar motive olduğuna şaşırmıştı. Bu adam bunu yapmaya çalışmayacak

Paramla kaç, değil mi? Ama yine, bu dünyadaki hizmetkarların bir

onlarla sözleşme yapın ve dış dünya da tehlikelidir. Onun yok

koşmak için her yerde.

...

Bu arada, Cheng Shouping derinlerde iken kumarhaneye doğru yol aldı

düşünce.

Genç efendimiz sadece kendisine 10.000 gümüş tael bahse girmek istiyordu

çünkü herkesin ona tepeden bakmasından memnun değil. O var

Zaten onun üzerinde 7.500.000 gümüş tael vardı, bu yüzden 10.000 gümüş tael kaybetmek büyük değildi

anlaşma.

Ancak, genç ustanın çalışma arkadaşı olarak, onu paylaşmak benim görevim

Endişe. Para kaybettiğini nasıl izleyebilirim? Pekala, gençlere bahse girerim

Ustanın rakibi o zaman kazanıyor! O zamana kadar, genç efendi kaybettiğinde

Düello ama yine de parayı alıyor, keskin zekam için beni övecek!

Hahaha, eminim keskinim!

Bu arada, Zu An evine geri döndü, sadece şok içinde atlamak için. O

İhtiyar Mi'nin onu içeride beklediğini fark etti.

"Kıdemli, buradasın." Zu An, bir erkeğin bu konuda olabileceği kadar itaatkardı

an. Her zamanki asi davranışını sergilemeye cesaret edemiyordu.

Yaşlı Mi cevap olarak başını salladı ve şöyle dedi: "Çok hızlı ilerledin

daha önce hatırlatmayı unuttuğum. Ayçiçeği kullanmamalısın

Hayalet Umutsuz bir duruma gelmedikçe sana öğrettim. Aksi takdirde,

muhtemelen sana tehlike getirecektir."

"Ah?" Zu An suskun kaldı.

'Bixie Kılıç Oyunumu' öğrenmek için çok çaba harcadım, ama aniden,

artık kullanamıyor musunuz?

Bölüm 108: Gizli Planlar

Yaşlı Mi bu durum karşısında oldukça mavi toplanmış hissediyordu. Ah, bu doğru değil

çünkü artık toplarım yok. Şey, sadece böyle bir şey.

Zu An'a sadece Ayçiçeği Hayaleti öğretti çünkü bu onun için kolay değildi.

Uygun bir kazan bulması için, bu yüzden ikincisinin herhangi bir yere gelmesini istemedi.

Sonunda ikincisine sahip olmadan önce bir aksilik.

Ancak, Zu An'ın Ayçiçeği Hayaletini gerçekten kavramasını beklemiyordu

çok hızlı. Ayçiçeği Hayaleti'nin dokuz seviyesi vardı ve ilki

seviye, kişinin kuşatmanın ortasında bile özgürce manevra yapmasına izin verdi.

Aynı derecedeki yetişimciler. Rakip bir veya iki derece daha yüksek olsa bile

ondan daha fazla korkacak bir şey olmazdı. Eğer biri ona hakim olabilseydi

Dokuzuncu seviyede, Ustalar bile birinin kollarını sıvazlamakta zorlanırdı.

Çoğu insanın sadece ilk seviyeyi kavraması birkaç ay sürerdi, bu yüzden Yaşlı

Mi, Ayçiçeği Fantazmasını öğrenmek için birkaç gece çaba sarf ettiğini düşündü

Zu An'a Klanlar sırasında kendini koruma yeteneğini zar zor verirdi

Turnuva.

Ancak, Zu An beklenmedik bir şekilde hareket becerisinde yetenekliydi,

Bir huff'ta ilk seviyede ustalaşmak. Aslında, çoktan ulaşmış olabilirdi.

ikinci seviye bile. Yarın düello ringinde kullanacak olursa,

Yaşlı Mi için sorun yaratabilir. Kimsenin yapabilmesi pek mümkün olmasa da

Brightmoon City'deki bu hareket becerisini tanımlamak için, yine de olmak daha iyiydi.

üzgünümden daha güvenli.

Yaşlı Mi bunun hakkında ne kadar çok düşünürse, o kadar gergin hissediyordu. Böylece karar verdi

Zu An'ı önceden uyarmak için gelmek.

Zu An'ın söyledikleri karşısında şok olduğunu görünce devam etti, "Yapacağım

Ki yolunu biraz değiştirmek için size başka bir numara öğretin. Bu şekilde, olmayacak

başkalarının senin hareket yeteneğinin kökenini görmesi kolay."

Zu An bunu duyunca çok sevindi. "Kıdemli, sen inanılmazsın! Bilmiyordum

böylesine müthiş bir hareket becerisini bu kadar kolay değiştirme yeteneğine sahipsin!"

Bununla birlikte, kalbinde, hareket yeteneğinin

xiulian dünyasında bir tabu. Ona Yaşlı Mi'nin ne kadar yaşlı olduğu hatırlatıldı

Onu hareket yeteneğinin adını açıklamaması gerektiği konusunda uyardı ve şimdi

onun da onu infaz etmesinden endişe ediyordu, hatta

bazı değişiklikler yapmak için geliyorum. Yaşlı Mi ne saklıyor olabilir

burada?

Daha dikkatli olmalıyım, yoksa bir gün onun işini bitirebilirim.

Zu An, Ayçiçeği'nin yeni gözden geçirilmiş versiyonunu uygularken

Phantasm, Cheng Shouping daha önce şehirdeki büyük kumarhaneler tarafından dolaştı

Sonunda Zu An'ın kaybı için biraz daha yüksek bir ödemesi olan birini seçti.

"Eğer bahsini değiştirdiğimi bilseydi, beni öldüresiye döver miydi?" Çetin

Shouping aniden biraz tereddüt etti.

Ancak, kısa süre sonra kendini aksi yönde ikna etti.

Bunu sadece genç efendi için endişelendiğim için yapıyorum, böylece yapmaz

gururuyla birlikte parasını da kaybeder. Ustalarımızın yaptığı bazı şeyler var

gururlarını baltaladığı için bize söyleyemez ve böyle zamanlarda böyle

Biz hizmetkarlar onların gerçek niyetlerini çıkarmalıyız.

Bugüne kadar, Madam'ın ona neden kızdığını hala anlayamadı

Üstat için bazı cariyeler getireceğini söylediğinde ve

Aralarından seçim yapması için sevecen bir şekilde bir grup bayan getirdi.

Her neyse, bunun bugüne kadar doğru şey olduğuna kendini ikna ettikten sonra,

Zu An'ın kaybı üzerine 10.000 gümüş taelin hepsine bahse girdi.

Ayrıldıktan kısa bir süre sonra, bir erkek ve bir kadın kumarhaneden çıktı. Adam

uzun boylu ve gösterişli bir görünüme sahipken, kadın onurlu görünüyordu ve

zarif. İyi bir çifte benziyorlardı.

"Genç efendi, genç bayan."

Bahisleri almaktan sorumlu olan görevli çifte eğildi. Eğer

Zu An buradaydı, ikisini hemen tanıyacaktı.

tanıdık yüzler olun.

Adam Sang Qian'dan başkası değildi ve kadın Zheng Dan'dı.

"İnsanın Zu An'ın çalışma arkadaşı olduğundan emin misin?" Sang Qian baktı

Cheng Shouping'in ayrılan silueti derin bir sesle sordu.

Silverhook Casino'daki aksilikten sonra, Zheng'i gizlice destekledi

klan şehirde yeni bir kumarhane kurmak için. Zheng klanı zaten

Kumar işinde uğraşmak ve Sang'ın zamanında desteği

klan temelini daha da güçlendirdi ve hızlı bir şekilde yükselmelerini sağladı.

güç.

"Evet, kesinlikle öyle," diye yanıtladı görevli. "Onun adı Cheng Shouping,

ve o Zu An'ın tek hizmetkârı."

"Zu An'ın kaybına daha önce bahse mi girmişti?" Sang Qian neye inanamadı

duyuyordu.

"Evet, üzerine 10.000 gümüş tael bahse girdi," dedi görevli.

Zheng Dan kaşlarını çattı. "Onun gibi bir hizmetçinin nasıl olur da 10.000 kişisi olabilir

gümüş taeller? Bunu Zu An'ın talimatları doğrultusunda yapmış olmalıydı. Yine de yapmadım

Zu An'ın aslında kendi mağlubiyetine bahse girmesini bekliyorum."

Sang Qian içtenlikle güldü. "Yuan Wendong'u nasıl kışkırtmaya devam ettiğinden sonra

Tekrar tekrar, aslında biraz Trump'a sahip olabileceğini düşündük

Kollarını sıvadık, bu yüzden hareketlerine dikkat ettiğimizden emin olduk.

Yine de, kim çoktan kendini onun için teslim ettiğini düşünebilirdi ki?

kayıp? Hah, sanırım gelen birinden çok fazla şey bekliyorduk

sokaklardan. Chu klanının genç efendisi olduktan sonra bile,

Hala küçük küçük avantajlar elde etme alışkanlığını başlatamıyor."

Zheng Dan, düşünürken bu sözleri duyunca biraz somurttu

Buna rağmen ondan yararlanmayı reddeden centilmen genç adam

baştan çıkarma girişimlerinin yanı sıra bunalmış heybetli adam

onun önünde duran herkes.

Şimdiye kadar gördüğü tüm kanıtlar Zu An'ın bir kişi olmadığını gösteriyordu.

sıradan insan.

"Shi Kun'a endişesinin temelsiz olduğunu bildirmesi için birini gönder. O adam

Bu bir tehdit değil," dedi Sang Qian gülümseyerek. "Ayrıca, şunlardan emin olun:

Çalışma arkadaşının daha önce yaptığı bahsi kurcalayın."

Görevli cevap olarak başını salladı, "Endişelenme, zaten kurcaladım

onunla birlikte. Bahis kağıdı özel mürekkep kullanılarak yazılmıştır. Yarın, yüzey

mürekkep geri çekilir ve alttaki katman yüzeye çıkar. Onun gibi gösterecek

Bunun yerine Zu An'ın zaferi için bahis oynamak."

"Aferin!" diye iltifat etti Sang Qian. "Kaybını telafi etmek istiyorsun

bahsiniz üzerinden düello yüzüğü mü? Hayal et, sana izin vermeyeceğim!"

Birdenbire bir şey hatırladı ve kaşlarını çattı, "Bir dakika,

Bu adam neden sadece 10.000 gümüş tael bahse girdi? Çok fazla bir şeyi yok mu

bundan daha fazla para mı?"

Zheng Dan şefkatli bir gülümseme takındı ve "Büyük Kardeş Sang, var mısın?

Unutulmuş? Silverhook Casino'dan kazandıklarının çoğu sadece boş

çek. Kumar oynamak için dışarı çıkarması mümkün değil."

"Bu doğru." Sang Qian başını salladı. "Öyle olsa bile, 40.000'e sahip olmalıydı.

Şu anda onun üzerinde 50.000. Yine de, sadece kendini çıkarmak için getirebiliyordu

Bu bahis için 10.000 gümüş tael. Sanırım kendini bu durumdan kurtaramıyor.

sefil doğayı sokaktan aldı."

Zheng Dan, Sang Qian'ın sözlerine katılmadığını fark etti. Nasılsa

baştan çıkarmaya çalıştığı o adamı bu kelimeyle ilişkilendiremedi

'cimrice'. Söylemeden önce bir an tereddüt etti, "Onun olması mümkün mü?

bahsini birkaç kumarhaneye yaymak mı?"

Sang Qian aydınlanma içinde başını salladı. "Evet, bu mümkün. Birini şuraya gönder:

hemen içine bakın. Bizim tarafımızdan daha küçük bir miktar bahis yapıyor olabilir.

başka yerlerde daha fazla bahis yaparken gardımızı düşürmemizi sağlayın."

"Bu kumarhanenin bizim altımızda olduğunu bilmek için bağlantıları olduğunu sanmıyorum."

dedi Zheng Dan.

"Olasılık düşük olsa da, üzgün olmaktan ziyade güvende olmamız daha iyidir" dedi

Sang Qian. "Şimdi onun hakkında konuştuğumuza göre, ilerlemen ne

Şimdiye kadar mı?"

Zheng Dan'in yüzü kızardı. Başını salladı ve "İki tane aldım

Şimdiye kadar onunla karşılaştım, ama nerede saklandığını anlayamıyorum.

borç notu."

Onu tepeden tırnağa aramıştı ama borcu bulamamıştı

Her yere not edin. Nerede saklıyor olabilir? Chu klanında olabilir mi?

"Bununla acele etmelisin. Ellerimizi ele geçirebildiğimiz sürece

borç notu, Silverhook Casino ve Erik Çiçeği'ni koyabileceğiz

Tarikat istediğimiz zaman kontrolümüz altında," dedi Sang Qian.

"Bunu biliyorum." Zheng Dan, uğramak için bir şans bulması gerekip gerekmediğini merak etti

Chu klanı, ama böyle bir hareketin şüphe uyandırabileceğini biliyordu.

Chu klanı.

"Bu adam senden faydalandı mı?" Sang Qian aniden sordu

Gergin bir şekilde ona bakarken şüpheli.

Zheng Dan hemen Zu An'ın ellerinin kaba hissini düşündü

uyluğunda ve kalbi bir atım atladı. Ancak, bir poker sürdürdü

Yüzünü güldü ve sakince yanıtladı, "Emin olun, buna nasıl izin verebilirim

Benden faydalanacak adam mı?"

"Bu iyi." Sang Qian rahat bir nefes aldı.

...

Bu arada, Yuan klanında, bir grup insan bir sır içinde oturuyordu.

Yüzlerinde ciddi bakışlar olan toplantı odası. Birisi kapıyı çaldı

Kapı ve Yuan Wendong bir süreliğine dışarı çıktı. Sonunda döndüğünde,

Yüzünde bir gülümseme vardı.

"Sang Qian az önce Zu An'ın hiçbir kozu olmadığı haberini gönderdi. O gizlice

kendi kaybı üzerine bahse girdi."

Kalabalık kahkahalara boğuldu. Güzel kadına bakmak için döndüler

Bir at kuyruğu taktı ve "Size söylediğim gibi, Bayan Snow, siz de alıyorsunuz

Hiçbir şey için endişelenmiyorum!"

Söylemeye gerek yok, genç kadın Snow'du. Shi için uygun değildi

Kun kendisi bir hamle yapması için, bu yüzden onunla temas kurması için onu gönderdi.

Onları uyarmak için Yuan klanı.

"Kendi kaybıyla mı bahse girdi?" Kar kafası karışmıştı.

Diğerleri daha iyisini bilmiyor olabilirdi, ama Zu An'ın olduğunu çok iyi biliyordu

Şimdiye kadarki gerçek yeteneklerini gizliyordu.

"Genç efendi Yuan, yarın hala dikkatli olmalısın. Zu olsa bile

An sadece üçüncü derece bir yetişimcidir, dövüş yeteneği bunu çok aşar.

Gardını düşürmemelisin."

Snow'a, Zu An'a suikast girişiminde nasıl başarısız olduğu hatırlatıldı

her şeye rağmen dışarı çıkmasına rağmen. Sebebin bir kısmı ani

Karnı ağrısı vardı, Zu An'ın şaşırtıcı derecede büyük gücü büyük bir rol oynadı

bunun da bir parçası.

Ancak, Yuan Wendong endişelerini silkerek konuştu: "Ne olursa olsun

Ne kadar güçlüydü, o sadece üçüncü derece bir yetişimci değil miydi? Ne olursa olsun

çekmeye çalışır, masaları beşinci dereceye karşı çevirmesinin bir yolu yoktur

Benim gibi yetişimci!"

Diğerleri Yuan Wendong'un sözlerini kabul etti. Onların görüşüne göre, bir

Üçüncü derece bir yetişimcinin ne kadar güçlü olabileceğiyle sınırlıydı.

Gizli toplantı odasındaki yaşlılardan biri cıvıl cıvıl oldu, "Eğer Zu An'ın yoksa.

Hazırlanan koz kartları, köstebek yuvasından bir dağ yapmıyor muyuz?

Genç efendimizi peşinden mi gönderiyorsunuz? Korkunç bir israf gibi görünüyor."

"Bu Zu An beni birçok kez aşağıladı. Yerleşmek zorundayım

Ona kin duyun, yoksa başkaları beni sadece bir itiş kakış için alabilir. Ayrıca

Bu adam bir yaban arısı gibi görünse de, yeteneği kesinlikle çok uzaktı

yüzeyde gösterdiklerini aşıyor. Aklında bazı fikirler olabilir.

Bayan Snow bile bizi öyle olmadığı konusunda uyarmak için buraya kadar geldi

Onun olduğunu düşündüğümüz kadar basit, bu yüzden olması gerektiğine inanıyorum

daha ihtiyatlı.

"Her halükarda, yarın onu ezdiğimden emin olacağım. Yapacağım

Ona hiçbir şey için iyi bir şeyin her zaman hiçbir şey için iyi olmayacağını gösterin. O

Gerçek yeteneğini gizlediği için zeki olduğunu düşünmüş olabilirim, ama ben yapacağım

Ona küçük numaralarının True'dan önceki şakalardan başka bir şey olmadığını gösterin

Benim gibi dahiler!"

"Ama eğer ona karşı çıkarsan, geri kalanımız bunun için yeterli olmayabilir

Chu klanının uzmanlarıyla ilgilen," dedi birisi endişeli bir şekilde.

"Emin olun, Chu Chuyan ile başa çıkacak birileri var. Davet edebilir miyim

Bay Wu içeri girin!" Yuan Wendong ayağa kalkarak duvara doğru işaret etti.

yan tarafta.

Duvar yavaşça açıldı ve orta yaşlı bir adam yavaşça içeri girdi. Bile

bestelenmiş Kar elinde olmadan şaşkınlık içinde soluklaştı. Bu baskı...

Bu adam altıncı derece bir yetişimci mi?

Yuan Wendong orta yaşlı adamla tanıştırmadan önce ona eğildi

Kalabalık, "Size Wu klanından Elder Wu Di'yi tanıtabilir miyim? O bir

altıncı derece gelişimci. Chu Chuyan ne kadar güçlü olursa olsun, hala hayır

Beşinci derece bir yetişimciden daha fazlası. Hepimizin bildiği gibi, büyük bir boşluk var

beşinci derece ile altıncı derece arasında. Onun yardımıyla, kesinlikle yapabileceğiz

yarın savaşı kazanmak için!"

Beşinci derece bir uygulayıcı şu elemental enerjilere erişebilirdi:

Altıncı derece bir yetişimcinin onları savunmaya dönüştürebileceği halde dünya

onun etrafında katman. Yetenekteki bu gelişme için fazlasıyla yeterliydi.

Herhangi bir altıncı derece yetişimci, herhangi bir beşinci derece yetişimciyi yenmek için.

Yuan klanı altıncı derece bir yetişimcinin

Dizilişlerine katılın. Bununla, zaferlerinden emindiler.

Ancak Snow elinde olmadan şüphe uyandırdı, "Bu Klanlar

Turnuva. Her iki taraf da gençlerini aşağı gönderiyor. Bunu göz önünde bulundurarak

Elderin yaşı, Chu klanını bir kenara bırakırsak, şehir lordu bile bunu kabul etmezdi

o."

Bölüm 109: Sen Benim Olduğumu Düşünüyorsun

Sadece seni tanımazdım

Şapka taktığın için mi?

"Bayan Snow, endişelenmenize gerek yok. Hazırlıklarımızı zaten yaptık

İlerle," dedi Yuan Wendong gülümseyerek. Öyle bir maske çıkardı ki,

ağustosböceği kanadı kadar ince ve dedi ki, "Bu biri tarafından yapılan bir maske

Klanımız tarafından işe alınan Runemasters. Bununla, kendini şu şekilde gizleyebilecektir:

genç bir adam."

Yuan klanının Chu klanına meydan okumaya cesaret etmesinin ana nedenlerinden biri

Wu klanının desteğine sahip oldukları içindi. Wu klanının

Klanlar Turnuvasında onlara yardımcı olması için bir grup uzman gönderdi.

Hem Yuan Klanı hem de Chu Klanı neler olup bittiğini bilse de,

hala iddiayı sürdürmek için bir ihtiyaç. Aksi takdirde, kalabalık olsaydı

Yuan klanının tarafındaki herkesin aslında Wu'dan olduğunu kabul edin

klan, onlar da utanırdı.

Bu sorunu çözmek için, Yuan klanı ve Wu klanı bir

Çözüm, ve bu, rün ustalarının bir grup maske üretmesini sağlamaktı.

kimliklerini gizlemek. Bu maskeler bir insanın yüzüyle aynı görünüyordu,

kişi ona yakından bakmadıkça farkı söylemeyi imkansız hale getiriyor.

Wu Di adındaki orta yaşlı adam maskeyi takar takmaz döndü

soğuk yüzlü bir gençliğe. Kalabalık onu birçok açıdan değerlendirdi, ama

kimliğini verebilecek hiçbir şey bulamadılar.

Kar aynı anda hem şaşırdı hem de dehşete düştü. "Böyle maskelerle,

istediğin birinin kimliğine bürünemez misin?"

Birisi onun genç efendisini taklit etseydi, yapamaz mıydı?

farkı da anlatmak için mi?

Buna doğru Yuan Wendong başını salladı ve cevapladı, "Nasıl olabilir

Başka bir kişinin kimliğine bürünmek bu kadar kolay mı? Ne kadar iyi yapılmış olursa olsun

maske, sadece bir kişinin görünümünü değiştirebilir. Kimliğe bürünme çok şey gerektirir

Sesi, jestleri ve her şeyi taklit etmek gibi bundan daha büyük bir beceri

başka türlü."

Gerçekte, Yuan Wendong ilk gördüğünde aklında aynı düşünceler vardı

maske. İstediği ve diktiği herkese dönüşebileceğini düşündü

Başka bir eve girip başka bir adamın karısıyla yatmak.

Ama dünyada bu kadar uygun bir şey nasıl olabilir?

Kar bu sözleri duyduktan sonra biraz sakinleşti. Onu çevirdi

Dikkatleri tekrar Klanlar Turnuvası'na çevirdiğimizi, ne kadar emin olunduğunu düşünerek

Yuan Wendong bu konuyla ilgiliydi, Zu An bu çileden kurtulsa bile.

Biraz şans eseri, en azından sakat kalacaktı.

Ne yazık ki kendim bir hamle yapmıyorum!

Sadece kızlık çağındaki bedeninin bununla nasıl kirletildiğini düşünün

Aşağılık adam onu nefret dolu bir şekilde dudaklarından ısırdı.

...

"Ah choo ~"

Zu An hapşırdı. Şimdi, bu sefer hangi güzel bayan beni düşünüyor

etrafında?

Son birkaç saat boyunca, İhtiyar Mi ona değiştirilmiş versiyonunu uygulattı.

Ayçiçeği Hayaleti ve ancak çarpıtıldığından emin olduktan sonra

artık tanınamayacak bir noktaya kadar sonunda ayrıldı mı?

yüzünde memnun bir gülümseme.

Bununla birlikte, Zu An sonunda kendine biraz zaman ayırdı. Yatağına uzandı

toplamda topladığı Öfke puanlarına bakmak.

Hmm, 27.489, ha? Bu düşündüğümden daha az.

Önemli bir miktar gibi görünse de, feci başarı oranı

Piyango, onun için fazla bir şey elde etmesinin mümkün olmadığı anlamına geliyordu.

Ve sanki dünya onu haklı çıkarmaya kararlıymış gibi, ne aldı

daha sonra 'Katıldığınız için teşekkürler' ve 27 Ki Meyveleri oldu. Becerilere gelince

ve eserler, bu sefer Zu An'dan kaçınarak iyi iş çıkarmışlardı.

"Herhangi bir beklentiye girmemem gerektiğini biliyordum!" Zu An harrumphed

öfkeyle.

Yine de 27 Ki Meyvesini hemen yuttu.

Dördüncü formasyon toplamda 233 Ki Meyvesi gerektiriyordu, bu yüzden sadece başardı

çabalarına rağmen toplamda onda birini doldurun. Kin dolu sözler mırıldanırken

Klavyeye doğru yavaş yavaş uykuya daldı...

Cheng Shouping döndüğünde, Zu An çoktan hızlı bir şekilde uyuyordu, bu yüzden

sözünü kesmedi. Zu An'a konuyu anlatmaya karar verdikten sonra

ikincisi yarın düelloyu kaybetti.

Hehe, genç efendi savaşı kaybettikten sonra kesinlikle üzülürdü. Eğer ben

O zaman bahis kağıdını çıkar ve ona biraz kazanmayı başardığımı göster

Onun için para, kesinlikle memnun olurdu. En azından, bu rahatlatıcı olurdu

incinmiş ruhu.

Acaba genç efendi bana ne kadar para bahşederdi

sonra...

...

Kısa süre sonra nihayet Klanlar Turnuvası günü gelmişti. Sağlamak amacıyla

Adalet, her iki klan da onu ortasında boş bir arazide tutmaya karar verdi.

şehir.

Brightmoon Şehrindeki önde gelen klanların gençlerinin çoğu etrafta toplandı

Sabahın erken saatlerinde bölge, nadir görülen kargaşaya katılmak istiyor. O

Her gün iki önde gelen klanın gençlerini görmek zorunda değildik

birbirleriyle kavga etmek. Kargaşaya katılmasalar bile, yapabilirlerdi

ayrıca potansiyel olarak savaştan bir veya iki şey alır ve bu da

Buradaki yolculukları çaba ve zamana değmez.

Doğal olarak, Chu klanı ve Yuan klanı en erken gençler olarak geldi.

düelloya katılacakları için daha sonra kendilerini tanımak zorunda kaldılar.

savaş alanları.

Sadece yuvaları doldurmak için orada bulunan Zu An'a gelince, herkes dolaylı olarak

önceden gelip gelmediğinin bir önemi olmadığını düşünüyordu. Zu An

Kendisi de bir katılımcının öz farkındalığına sahip değildi.

turnuva da, bu yüzden denemesi gerektiği aklından hiç geçmedi

Gerekçelerle tanışın. Bunun yerine, bir sandalyeye oturdu.

Etrafa bakarak, görünüşe göre olayın ihtişamına hayran kalarak.

Tüm bunları göz önünde bulundurarak, Qin Wanru elinde olmadan nasıl olduğuna kaşlarını çattı.

o bir tümsek gibi davranıyordu. Ancak, içinde bulundukları göz önüne alındığında

Şu anda kamuoyu, daha önce onu azarlaması uygun olmazdı

Herkes. Bu yüzden, sadece soğukça homurdanıp başını çevirebilirdi.

Zu An, ikinci daldaki oğulları ilk kez görüyordu

ve üçüncü şube.

İkinci dalın Chu Hongcai'si olağanüstü bir genç adama benziyordu.

Babasının karanlık, ürkütücü görünüşünü miras almak yerine, Chu Hongcai

kemiklerinden gururlu ve suskun bir auraya hükmediyordu.

Söylentilere göre, Chu'da oldukça önemli bir kişiydi

Klan, ama bugün son derece tonlu görünüyordu. Belki de hala öyleydi

Ruh Deresi'nin kirlenmesini önleyemediği için kendini suçluyor.

Üçüncü dalın Chu Yucheng'ine gelince, o sevimli küçük bir şişmandı. O

küçük boncuklu gözleri ve yuvarlak bir fiziği vardı. Hiç şüphe yoktu

ne de olsa üçüncü dalın Chu Yuepo'sunun kanla ilgili oğluydu.

Chu Hongcai ile karşılaştırıldığında çok daha arkadaş canlısıydı. O bile

Zu An'a onunla sohbet etmek için kendi isteğiyle yaklaştı.

Onlarla olan etkileşimlerinden sonra, Zu An, oğullarının

İkinci dal ve üçüncü şube gerçekten çok daha sevindiriciydi

babalarına kıyasla. Chu Tiesheng'in ve

Chu Yuepo, alaycı tonunu kullanarak onu yere serdi.

ataların salonu o zamanlar.

Hm, bu küçük şişmanlığın babasının genlerini miras almış olması mümkün mü?

gerçi? Belki de nazik dış görünüşünün altında uğursuz bir ruh gizlenir?

Zu An aniden Chu Hongcai'ye karşı biraz temkinli hissetti. Bilinçaltında bir

Chu Yuepo ve Chu Tiesheng'e bakın. İlki onlarla sohbet ediyordu

Etrafında bir şey hakkında konuşurken, ikincisi ona bakıyordu...

Hmm, şu anda Qin Wanru'ya mı bakıyor?

Bunun halka açık bir olay olduğu göz önüne alındığında, Qin Wanru'nun

düzgün giyindiğinden emin olmuştu. Her türlü şeyi giymişti

asil eğilimini ve ipek elbisesini vurgulamak için pahalı takılar

Wear, güzel figürünü mükemmel bir şekilde sergiledi.

Haa, Chu Huanzhao neden annesinin şehvetli genlerini miras almadı?

Görünüşe göre Zu An'ın bakışlarını hisseden Qin Wanru başını çevirdi ve ateş etti

ona sert bir bakış.

QIn Wanru'yu +69 Rage için başarıyla trolledin!

Zu An biraz boğulmuş hissetti. Sana bağıran ben değilim, öyleyse neden sensin

Bana kızıyor musun?

Ama Chu Tiesheng'e bakmak için döndüğünde, Chu Tiesheng çoktan dönmüştü

etrafındaki birkaç kişiyle sohbet etmek. Gözlerinin öyle olup olmadığını merak etmesine neden oldu

ona oyun oynamak.

"Wang klanının patriği geldi!"

Zu AN bakışlarını çevirdi ve ince, orta yaşlı bir adamın bir liderliğe liderlik ettiğini gördü.

sahaya çıkan bir grup insan.

Brightmoon Şehrindeki dört önde gelen tüccar klanının

Chu klanı, Yuan klanı, Zheng klanı ve Wang klanıydı. Bu ilk oldu

Wang klanından herhangi biriyle tanıştığı zaman.

Chu Zhongtian ve Qin Wanru ayağa kalktı ve oradakileri karşıladı.

Wang klanı gülümseyerek sohbet etmeye başlamaları uzun sürmedi

birbirinizle neşeyle.

Zu An bu manzara karşısında şaşırdı. Chu Huanzhao'ya döndü ve sordu,

"Wang klanından babanın geçmişinin ne olduğu

Onları şahsen karşılamak?"

Sayıları doldurmak için burada olan başka bir kişi olsaydı, tıpkı Zu gibi

An, o kişi kesinlikle Chu Huanzhao olurdu. Onun da hiçbir ilgisi yoktu

Kendini savaş alanlarına alıştırmak için ve hiçbirinin hiçbirini göstermedi.

Önemli bir savaşla yüzleşmek üzere olan birinin yaşayacağı gerginlik

ya da. Bunun yerine, yüzünde heyecanlı bir bakışla etrafına bakıyordu.

Zu An'ın sorusunu gördükten sonra cevapladı, "Hiç sahip olduklarını sanmıyorum

özel arka plan. Sadece Wang klanının iyi şartlarda olduğunu biliyorum

bizimle."

Tüm bu süre boyunca yan tarafta dinlenen Chu Chuyan gözlerini açtı

ve açıkladı, "Wang klanı tarım ürünlerinde uzmanlaşmıştır ve

Brightmoon City'deki en büyük taverna onlar tarafından yönetilmektedir. Chu klanımız başladı

Onlarla iyi şartlar çünkü birçok iş bağlantımız var

birbirleriyle. Chu klanımız bunun için kraliyet mahkemesinden izin almanızı gerektirir.

tuz satmak ve kraliyet mahkemesi izinleri ne kadar rasyona göre dağıtır

tüccar sınırlara doğru gönderir. Chu klanımız şu konularda uzmanlaşmamıştır:

Tarım ürünleri, bu yüzden Wang klanının bu konuda yardımına ihtiyacımız var. Yani

ayrıca ailemin onlara bu kadar saygı duymasının nedeni de budur. Huanzhao, sen

zamanınızı boşta bırakmayı bırakmalısınız. Nasıl olur da böyle bir şeyi bilemezsin

Bu kadar basit mi?"

Chu Huanzhao ablasının kolunu tutarken dilini çıkardı

ve utangaç bir şekilde, "Yine de etrafta seni görüyoruz ~" dedi.

Chu Chuyan başını sallamadan önce küçük kız kardeşine noktalı bir şekilde baktı

Çaresiz -ce.

Bu sırada Zu An, Chu Huanzhao'ya küçümseyerek baktı. Hah, benim gibi görünüyor

kayınbirader de bir yaban arısı. Huh, neden burada 'ayrıca' kelimesini kullandım?

"Zheng Klanı patriği geldi!"

Wang klanına kıyasla, Chu Zhongtian Wang klanına karşı çok daha az dostane davranıyordu.

Zheng klanı. Sadece birbirlerinin onayını almak için hafifçe başını salladılar

varlık. Zheng klanının patriği Zheng Yutang, bunu yapmadı bile

Hoşça vakit geçirmek için uğraşın, doğrudan Yuan klanına doğru yürüyün

alanında onlarla sohbet etmeye başladı.

Zu An, Zheng Yutang'ı yakından değerlendirdi ve oldukça sakin olduğunu gördü

görünüş. Orta yaşa ulaşmasına rağmen, büyüleyici bir varlığı vardı.

başkalarına onun hakkında iyi bir izlenim verdi. Neden bir

Zheng Dan gibi güzel bir kız.

Birdenbire, giyinmiş güzel bir kadın olduğunu fark etti.

Geleneksel Qipao, dudaklarında asılı hafif bir gülümsemeyle ona bakıyordu. Kim

Zheng Dan'dan başka bir şey olabilir mi?

Zu An cevap olarak ona göz kırptı ve bir an için kıvılcımlar uçuyor gibi görünüyordu.

Zheng Dan'in yüzü hemen kızardı, bu da başını çevirmesine neden oldu

uzakta.

"Büyük sis, büyük sis! Kayınbiraderim ve Zheng Dan değiş tokuş ediyorlardı

flört etmek birbirinizle görünür!" Chu Huanzhao, Zu An'a saldırdı.

"Ben değildim! Ben yapmadım! Yalan söylemeyi bırak!" Suçüstü yakalanmasına rağmen,

Zu An hiç tereddüt etmeden bunu reddetti.

"Ama bunu kendi gözlerimle gördüm. Ona göz kırptın bile!" Chu Huanzhao

öfkeyle bağırdı.

Chu Chuyan biraz somurttu. "Sakin ol! Ya başkaları duyarsa?"

Takasın oldukça gürültülü olması şanslıydı, bu yüzden kimse gerçekten ödeme yapmadı

Chu Huanzhao'nun bağırışına dikkat edin.

Chu Huanzhao'yu azarladıktan sonra, Chu Chuyan Zu An'a bakmak için döndü

Derin bir gölün suyu kadar sakin gözlerle sordu, "Zheng ile yakın mısın?

Dan?"

Bazı nedenlerden dolayı, Chu Chuyan'ın saf gözleri Zu An'ı biraz suçluluk hissettirdi.

Dolu. "Yakın olduğumuzu söyleyemem. Onu sadece bir kez kurtardım."

Birbirleriyle olan ilişkilerini çabucak açıkladı, ancak gitti

Kadrosunda meydana gelen olayları dışladığını söylemeden;

yatakhane.

"Korkmana gerek yok. Seni burada azarlamıyorum," Chu Chuyan

gülümseyerek cevap verdi. "Eğer Zheng Dan'in kalbini gerçekten yakalayabiliyorsan ve

Zheng klanını bizim tarafımıza çek, çok sevinirim."

Zu An şüpheyle gözlerini kırpıştırdı. Buraya atlamam için bir tuzak mı kuruyor

içinde?

"Abla~" Chu Huanzhao hemen ne kadar kayıtsız olduğunu protesto etti

Chu Chuyan bu konuyu ele alıyordu. Bu nedir? Neden daha az

Benden daha mı tedirgin? Burada bahsettiğimiz kocan senin!

Ancak, Chu Chuyan nefesinin altında mırıldanmaya devam etti,

Durum, "Zheng Dan ve Sang Qian'ın nişanlı olması çok üzücü

birbirleriyle. Onu kendi tarafınıza çekerseniz, Sang klanını döndürür

tamamen size karşı. Eksileri artılarından daha ağır basıyor gibi görünüyor..."

Zu An tamamen suskundu. Bir dakika, ciddi misin

konunun fizibilitesini analiz etmek?!?!

"Brightmoon Akademisi Müdürü Jiang geldi!"

Bu sözleri duyduktan sonra, Chu klanı veya Yuan klanı olsun, herkes

Hemen konuşmalarını kesti ve Jiang Luofu'yu karşılamak için oraya yöneldi.

Bu da Jiang Luofu'nun Parlak Ay Şehrinde ne kadar yüksekte durduğunu gösteriyordu.

Ancak, uyumsuz ünlemler kısa sürede kalabalığın ortasında yankılandı.

"Vay canına, şu bacaklar! Birkaç gün boyunca hiç kimse olmadan üzerlerine inebilirim

sorun!"

"Çoraplarını nereden aldı? Karım için bir çift almalıyım

çok!"

"Hah, evde sahip olduğun sarı yüzlü kadının olabileceğini düşünüyor musun?

Müdür Jiang ile aynı seviyeye mi getirildi?"

"Aiyo, sadece gözlerini bağlayacağım, tamam mı? Sadece çorap yerine getirmek için yeterlidir

fantezilerim!"

"Ölmek ister misin? Müdür Jiang hakkında nasıl böyle dedikodu yapabilirsin?"

...

Zu An hızlıca kalabalığın ortasında tanıdık bir yüz fark etti: Ji Dengtu. O oldu

Kalabalığın ortasında saklanmak, orada bulunan güzel bayanlara bakmak.

Hah, sırf sen olduğun için seni tanımayacağımı mı sandın

şapka takmak mı? Önce bu sapkın bakış hakkında bir şeyler yapmalısın

senin yüzün!

Şüphesiz, Ji Dengtu gözleri için bir ziyafet çekmek için buradaydı. Ama

şaşırtıcı bir şekilde, Müdür Jiang'a hiç bakmıyor...?

Bölüm 110: Sıkıcı

Ji Dengtu'nun gözleri etrafta titriyordu. Ne zaman bir

güzel kadın, ünlü dedektifinkini anımsatan sapkın bir gülümseme

Mouri Kogoro yüzüne sürünürdü.

Dikkatli bir şekilde baktıktan sonra, Zu An keskin bir şekilde Ji Dengtu'nun sahip olduklarını fark etti.

gözler çoğunlukla olgun kadınlardı, özellikle de evli olanlar. Yoktu

Orada bulunan patriklerin eşlerine karşı tereddüt ediyordu, ancak odak noktası

hala esas olarak Qin Wanru'da. O kadar sert bakıyordu ki, gözleri gibi hissediyordu

sadece dışarı çıkacaktı.

Zu An bu konuda biraz stresli hissetti. Ona söylemesi gerekip gerekmediğini merak etti.

Bu konuda kayınpeder. Sonuçta, Chu Zhongtian ona güzel davrandı

peki, bu yüzden aldatılırsa kendini kötü hissederdi.

Ama yine, Ji Dengtu gerçekten bir şey yapıyormuş gibi değildi. Onun eylemi

Evli kadınlara homurdanmak hem acınası hem de tüyleri diken diken eden tüyler ürperticiydi, ama

gerçek bir zarara neden olmuyordu. Ayrıca, hala Ji'ye güveniyordu

Dengtu 'küçük Zu An'ı tedavi etmek için. Onun kötü tarafına geçmek akıllıca olmazdı.

Bu aynı soruyu Zu An'ın aklına geri getirdi. Nasıl verileceği göz önüne alındığında

Yalancı Ji Dengtu öyleydi, o zaman neden Müdür Jiang'a bakmıyordu?

Jiang Luofu'nun bakışlarını bir kenara bırakırsak, sadece bacakları bile fazlasıyla yeterliydi

herhangi bir erkeği çılgına çevirir. Wei Suo'nun hayranlığı bunun için fazlasıyla yeterliydi.

Bunun hakkında bir şeyler söyle, ama sanki Ji Dengtu buna kördü.

Şimdi konuyu düşündüğüne göre, dört kadın Ji Dengtu

O zamanlar Yu Yanluo, Shang Liuyu, Qiu Honglei ve Qin vardı

Wanru; Jiang Luofu'dan hiç bahsedilmiyordu.

Bu mantıklı değil. Shang Liuyu da akademiden, bu yüzden

Mantıksal olarak konuşursak, Jiang Luofu'yu da düşünmeliydi. Orada

bunun için daha derin bir şey olmalı.

"Sana gerçekten minnettarım, sen olmak için zaman ayırmaya istekli olduğun için

turnuvanın hakemi. Bununla, hakkında hiçbir soru olmamalıdır.

kararın adilliği."

Jiang Luofu her zamanki gibi soğuktu, ama erkekler bunu kazma eğilimindeydi.

Etrafındaki erkek kalabalığının gözlerinde ve gözlerinde hararetli bakışlar vardı

Yardım edemedi ama bacaklarına bakmak için aşağı doğru titredi.

Ve bu, bunların ayırt ettiği yüksek düzeyde öz kontrol ile oldu.

bireyler vardı. Temizlikteki diğer adamlara gelince, öyle bakıyorlardı ki

Neredeyse eteğine dalmak istiyorlarmış gibi görünmesi zordu.

Bu grup insanın arasında, gözleri berrak olan tek kişi Chu'ydu

Zhongtian. Gözleri şehvetsizdi. Bu nedenle, Jiang Luofu'nun daha iyisi vardı.

Centilmen jestlerinin izlenimini vererek, "Beni gururlandırıyorsun.

Chu ve Yuan klanının akademimizde birçok çocuğu var. Sadece yapıyorum

öğrencilerim için üzerime düşen."

...

Onlar hoşça vakit geçirirken, Zu An nefesinin altında alay ediyordu,

"Görünüşe göre çok uzun zamandır gagalanmış gibi görünüyor ki hiçbir şey göstermeye cesaret edemiyor

Hile yapma ipucu. Ne de olsa Qin Wanru yan tarafta ona bakıyor."

Zayıf!

Zu An, kayınpederinin ondan bir iki şey öğrenmesi gerektiğini hissetti. Bakmak

Chuyan'ın diğer kadınlara bakmamı hiç umursamadığına.

Ama elbette, bu sözleri yüksek sesle söylemesinin bir yolu yoktu. Eğer Chu

Zhongtian, kızına böyle bir şeyde 'zorbalık' yaptığını bilecekti.

Tavırla, kesinlikle bir pummeling cehennemi alırdı.

"Şehir lordu geldi!"

Büyük bir asker alayı, bir asker önderliğinde temizliğe girdi.

hafif yumrulu orta yaşlı adam. Karnı biraz dışarı çıkmasına rağmen,

Hala onun bir bakan olduğuna dair hiçbir şüphe bırakmayan gösterişli bir görünüme sahipti.

daha genç yaşlar. Brightmoon Şehrinin şehir lordu Xie Yi'ydi.

Xie Xiu, her zamanki ince gülümsemesiyle arkasından geliyordu

Dudak. Havalı görünüşü ona kadından ateşli ünlemler kazandırdı

seyirciler etrafta toplandı.

Tedavideki eşitsizlik Zu An'ı derinden kıskandırdı.

Görünüş açısından, kesinlikle Xie Xiu'nun altında değilim. Öyleyse neden ben

onun kadar popüler değil mi? Her zamanki yoksun tavrım yüzünden mi?

Gerçek cazibelerimi tamamen gizlediniz mi?

Haaa, kadınlar kesinlikle sığ. Neden ilginç ruhu göremiyorlar?

içimde mi yatıyor?

Ehh, bir dakika! Xie'nin yanında duran o güzel kadın kim?

Xiu? Yeni kız arkadaşı mı? Bu adamın kesinlikle kadınlarla bir yolu var. O

Her zaman birkaç günde bir yanında yeni bir kadın vardır ve her biri

Bunlardan inanılmaz bir çekiciliğe komuta ediyor. Bugün onunla birlikte olan kişi

her zamankinden daha muhteşem.

Bu kadının sivri uçlu oval bir yüzü vardı

kaşlar ve karlı cilt. Açık yeşil elbisesi onu sergiledi

Birinin kolunu kolayca sarabileceği ince bel.

Görünüş ve eğilim açısından, kesinlikle kaybetmedi.

Zheng Dan veya Wu Qing. Ama Zheng'in aksine, Dan'ın bir demure cazibesi vardı ve

Wu Qing'in ateşli karakteri, ayrılan doğal sakin bir lütuf emretti

sadece yanında durarak huzur içinde bir duygu.

Yani rafine, bilimsel bir vibe ile kastettikleri şey buydu!

Zu An daha yakından baktı ve bir nedenden dolayı kadının sıkıldığını hissetti

Xie Xiu'ya biraz benziyor. İşte o zaman keskin, ısırıcı bir açıklama

Birdenbire hemen yanında ses duyuldu, ". Kadınlara bakıyorsun

yine."

Zu An döndü ve Chu Huanzhao'nun ona keskin bir şekilde baktığını gördü. Patladı

Gülerek cevap verdi, "Eğer ben bir sapıksam, sen de aynı değil misin?"

"Ben nasıl sapığım?" Chu Huanzhao şaşkınlık içinde sordu.

"Kayınbiraderinin yakışıklı yüzüne bakmaya devam ettin. Nasılsın

Diğer kadınlara bakmamdan farklı bir eylem mi?" Chu Chuyan az önce

çeşitli önde gelen figürleri selamlamak için ailesine eşlik etmek için ayağa kalktı

olay yerine varmak. Muhtemelen gelecekteki anaerkil olacaktı.

Ne de olsa Chu klanı, bu yüzden bunlarla tanışması onun için iyi olurdu

halk.

Bu nedenle Zu An bu tür şakalar yapabiliyordu.

"Kim sana bakıyor?!" Chu Huanzhoa'nın yüzü kızardı.

"Eğer bana bakmıyor olsaydın, baktığımı nereden biliyorsun?

diğer kadınlar?" Zu An yalanladı.

"Ben..." Chu Huanzhao bir an için kelimelerini kaybetmişti, ama olmadı

Bir bahane bulması uzun sür. "Size sadece şunu hatırlatıyorum:

turnuvanın başlaması çok uzun sürmeyecek. Sakinleşmen gerekiyor ve

etrafa bakmayı bırak."

Chu Huanzhao'nun yüzünün zaten parlak kırmızı olduğunu görünce, Zu An bunu yapamadı

artık onunla alay etmek için kendini getir. "Biliyorum, biliyorum. Oh evet, biliyor musun

Xie Xiu'nun yanında duran kadın kim?"

"Ah, o Xie Xiu'nun ablası Xie Daoyun. Brightmoon olarak bilinir

Şehrin en yetenekli hanımı. Hmph! Xiulian uygulamak yerine,

zamanını ne zither ve satranç üzerinde çalışarak geçirdiğini öğren. Sadece hayatını boşa harcıyor!"

Chu Huanzhao bir çığlık atarak konuştu.

Zu An bu sözleri duyunca eğlendi. "Bir

Onu eleştirecek pozisyon mu? Uygulamanız ondan daha mı yüksek, yoksa

sahip olmadığı bazı olağanüstü yetenekler mi?"

Chu Huanzhao hemen bir öfke nöbeti geçirdi. "Eğer senin, seninle bağları koparırım

böyle davranmaya devam et!"

Zu An yürekten güldü. Tam bir şey söylemek üzereydi ki duydu

Arkasında tatlı bir kıkırdama sesi duyuluyor. "Çok ilginç şeyler gibi görünüyor

Etrafta olmadığım günlerde mi oldu?"

Heyecan verici bir koku bölgeye sürüklendi. Zu An başını çevirdi,

sadece gözlerinin önünde duran büyüleyici bir figür görmek için. Şeftali çiçeği

duygularla dolup taşan gözler ve bir çift gururlu, günahkâr

erkeklerde kötü düşünceleri kışkırtan kamburlar... Pei olmasaydı başka kim olabilirdi ki

Mianman?

"Abla Pei~" Chu Huanzhao, Pei Mianman'ı selamladı.

Pei Mianman'ın Chu klanıyla dostça bir ilişkisi vardı ve öyleydi

Chu Chuyan'ın da yakın arkadaşı. Doğal olarak, Chu ile tanışmıştı

Huanzhao da öyle.

Pei Mianman cevap vermeden önce dudaklarının altında usulca kıkırdadı, "Ağzın

son birkaç gündür çok daha tatlı hale geldi."

Chu Huanzhao'nun önünde oturdu ve onunla sohbet etmeye başladı.

Chu Huanzhao elinde olmadan taşıdığı gururlu dağları fark etti

Onunla birlikte etrafta dolaştı ve kendi etkileyici olmayan yüzüne bakmak için başını eğdi

düz. Dudakları bilinçaltında biraz bağırdı ve sönük bir sesle

"Abla Pei, neden seni son birkaç gündür görmedim?" diye sordu.

"Dışarıda ilgilenmem gereken bazı meseleler vardı."

"Ah. Sen benim ablamla aynısın. Her zaman olduğun gibi hissediyorsun

bir şeyle meşgul."

...

Pei Mianman'ın onu hiç tanımıyormuş gibi davrandığını görünce, Zu An

Tüm kadınların aktör olarak doğup doğmadığını merak etmekten kendimi alıkoyamadım. Konuşacak kimse yokken

için, orada sadece sessizce oturabiliyordu. Ancak, elinde olmadan kokusunu alamadı.

Pei Mianman hafif koku yayıyordu ve gözleri sürüklenmeye devam ediyordu

kıvrımlı vücuduna doğru.

Bu da çok kötü değil.

"Aradığım muhasebe kitapçığını bulmama yardım edeceğini söylemiştin

için. Şimdiye kadar herhangi bir ipucu var mı?"

Zu An, Pei Mianman'ın sesi geldiğinde hala güzel manzarada ziyafet çekiyordu

aniden kulaklarında yankılandı ve korku içinde sarsılmasına neden oldu. O hızlı bir şekilde

Başını çevirdi, sadece sırtının hala ona dönük olduğunu görmek için. O oldu

Hala Chu Huanzhao ile neşeyle sohbet ediyorum.

Vay canına, bu kadın kesinlikle uğursuz biri. Dürüstçe baştan çıkarmaya mı çalışıyor?

kayınbiraderinin önünde evli bir adam mı?

Zu An şaşırmıştı.

"Hey, sana bir soru soruyorum. Neden cevap vermiyorsun?"

Zu An, mesajını ona ki aracılığıyla ilettiğini biliyordu, ama

Mesele şu ki, bunu nasıl yapacağı hakkında hiçbir fikri yoktu. O an açığa çıkacağız

Ağzımı açıyorum!

Bu yüzden parmağını sırtına koydu ve yazmaya başladı: Peki ya sen?

Chu Chuyan'ı kovalamama yardım edeceğini mi söyledin? Herhangi bir ilerleme var mı?

Bu süre zarfında onu meşgul eden pek çok şey vardı, bu yüzden

neden dünyada hangi muhasebe kitabı Pei ile uğraşsın ki?

Mianman mı arıyordu?

Parmağı Pei Mianman'ın sırtına dokunduğunda, vücudu aniden sertleşti.

Siyah alevin bir titremesi onun etrafında titreşerek ortaya çıktı. Ancak, ne zaman

Zu An'ın sadece sırtına yazdığını fark etti, siyah alev

yavaş yavaş dağıldı.

"Sesini ki aracılığıyla nasıl ileteceğini bilmiyor musun?" Pei Mianman

şaşkına döndü.

Kişi bilmelidir ki, onlar gerçekten birbirlerine karşı kafa kafaya vermişlerdi ki;

Gece. Beşinci derece bir yetişimci olmasına rağmen, onu frenleyemedi

temel yeteneğini kullanmadan. Zu An'ın ne kadar güçlü olduğu göz önüne alındığında, öyleydi

Sesini Ki aracılığıyla iletemediğine inanmak zor.

Bir dakika, bu fırsattan yararlanmak için bu fırsatı kullanmıyor mu?

beni?

Soğukluk gözlerinde titreşti. Yüzünde hala bir gülümseme vardı.

Chu Huanzhao ile konuşmaya devam etti, ama bir parça öldürme arzusu

gözlerinin derinliklerinde titreşti.

Pei Mianman'ı +399 Rage için başarıyla trolledin!

Zu An da yoğun bir dolt değildi. Pei'nin ne olduğunu çabucak anlayabiliyordu

Mianman düşünüyordu, bu yüzden aceleyle açıkladı: Benim yetişimim çok güzel

yarım kıçlı. Hiç sistemik eğitimden geçmedim, bu yüzden çoğunu yapamam

Diğer uygulayıcıların yapabileceği hilelerden.

Pei Mianman elinde olmadan vücudunu biraz kıpırdattı. Zu An'ın hareketi

Parmak onu gıdıklıyordu.

Zu An'ın tarihini düşündüğünde, açıklamasının olmadığını düşündü

tamamen mantıksız. "Artık bana dokunma. Sana nasıl yapılacağını öğreteceğim

Sesini ki aracılığıyla ilet."

Pei Mianman'ın doğal olmayan kıpırdamasını fark eden Chu Huanzhao sordu, "Büyük

Kız kardeş Pei, sorun ne?"

"Hiçbir şey değil. Birdenbire sırtımda bir kaşıntı hissettim." Pei Mianman'ın yüzü

kızarmış.

Önümde oturan kişinin aptal küçük kız kardeş olması şanslı. Eğer

Bunun yerine Chu Chuyan olmuştum, Zu An ile etkileşimlerimin bir yolu yoktu

dikkatinden kaçabilirdi.

Şimdi bunu düşündüğüme göre, aslında bunu yapmak oldukça heyecan verici olurdu

bu onun önünde kocasıyla birlikte. Bu adamın onun olmaması üzücü

gerçek koca. Ahh, bu her şeyi sıkıcı kılıyor.

Tıpkı bunun gibi, Pei Mianman Chu Huanzhao ile sohbet etmeye devam etti.

Zu An'a sesini ki aracılığıyla iletmenin yolunu vermek. Uzun sürmedi

Beceride ustalaşması için ve yakında daha sorunsuz bir şekilde sohbet etmeye başladılar

birbirleriyle.

"Önce muhasebe defterinin nerede olduğunu bulmama yardım et, ben de yardım edeceğim

Chu Chuyan'ı kovalıyorsun."

Önce Chu Chuyan'ı kovalamama yardım et, nerede olduğunu bulacağım

sizin için muhasebe defteri."

"Sabrımı burada test ediyor musun?"

"Tsk. Eğer durum buysa, anlaşmayı iptal edebiliriz. Chu klanına anlatacağım

Bu ve daha önce nasıl olduğuna geri dönebiliriz. "

"..."

Müzakereler bir darboğaza girdi ve garip bir sessizliğe neden oldu.

Neyse ki, şu anda başka bir kargaşa meydana geldi.

"Vali Sang geldi!"

"Güneş Pınarı Dükü geldi!"

"Genç efendi Shi geldi!"

...

Pek çok önemli figürün gelişiyle, Chu Huanzhao bile sona erdi

Bakışlarını merakla çevirerek konuştu, "Sang Hong eskiden Yardımcıydı

Maliye Bakanı tuz ve silah ticaretini yönetiyor ama aniden

Vali olarak görev yapmak üzere Linchuan Komutanlığı'na gönderildi. Kesinlikle öyle

Klanımızın tuzla da uğraşması bir tesadüf, ha? Sadece bir aptal olmazdı

bizimle ilgilenmek için buraya gönderildiğini söyleyebiliyor!

"Şu Güneş Pınarı Dükü bir başkası. Wu olduğu gerçeğini bir kenara bırakırsak

Qing'in babası, Wu klanı daha önce bizimle hiç iyi geçinmemişti

ya da.

"Bu Shi klanı da bizimle kötü durumda. Tüm kötülere benziyor

yumurtalar bir araya gelerek kokarcalardan oluşan bir karton oluşturdu."

Pei Mianman bu manzara karşısında sessizce gülümsedi. Çok memnun kaldı

işlerin nasıl yürüdüğü.

Bölüm 111: Çok Popüler

Zu An, cahil Chu Huanzhao'nun bunu gerçekten bildiğini görünce şaşırdı

tüm bu karmaşık politikalar hakkında çok şey var. Bir anlamda, ne kadar korkunç olduğunu gösterdi

Chu klanının içinde bulunduğu bir durumdan.

Birlikte görünmeleri, korkmadıkları anlamına geliyordu.

Chu klanı bağlarını öğrenir. Hatta bir

Dünyanın geri kalanına onları bir taraf seçmeye teşvik etmek için mesaj.

Sang Hong, biraz keçi keçisi olan buruşuk yaşlı bir adama benziyordu. Onun

Görünüşü gerçek yaşından çok daha büyüktü. Söylentilere göre,

Kraliyet mahkemesinde oldukça yetkin bir yetkili, on kişiyle başa çıkabiliyor

sıradan bir insanın yapabileceğinden kat kat daha fazla belge.

Eski görünümüne rağmen, gözlerinde ruhlu bir parıltı vardı. Orada

onu örten bir heybetlilik havasıydı.

Ancak bunu gören Zu An elinde olmadan başını salladı. Vay canına, o

gerçekten bana gördüğüm tüm o aşırı çalışan programcıları hatırlatıyor.

önceki hayatım. Düşündüğüm gibi, 996 gerçekten zehirli. [1]

Buna karşılık, oğlu Sang Qian daha normal görünüyordu. Sang Qian iken

Xie Xiu ve Shi Kun kadar göz alıcı değildi, militarist bir havası vardı

Etrafındaki yiğitlik, epeyce heyecanlı çığlıklar getirdi.

kalabalığın içindeki hayran kızlar.

Sadece bu kadınların dikkati kısa sürede Shi Kun'a kaymıştı.

"Büyük Kardeş Shi, Büyük Kardeş Shi~"

"Büyük Kardeş Shi, seni seviyorum~"

"Waaa, çok yakışıklı. Aman Tanrım, bayılacağım..."

...

Zu An küçümseyerek gözlerini devirdi. O gerçekten bir maymun gibidir. Nereye giderse gitsin,

insanlar sadece ona gıcırdıyor.

Pei Mianman'ın omuzlarına dokundu ve sordu, "Hey, bana gerçeği söyle.

Bu adam gerçekten o kadar yakışıklı mı? Onun benim kadar yakışıklı olduğunu sanmıyorum

"Gerçeği mi yoksa yalanı mı duymak istiyorsun?" Pei Mianman'ın dudakları kıvrıldı.

"Sormanıza gerek var mı? Tabii ki bu yalan!" diye yanıtladı Zu An

Şiddetle.

Pei Mianman kahkahalara boğuldu. "Kesinlikle ilginç bir adamsın."

Bu arada, Chu Huanzhao şüpheyle ikisine dikkatle baktı.

Neden ikisi arasında bir şeyler varmış gibi görünüyor?

Birdenbire, Zu An'ın yüzü sertleşti. Sadece inanılmaz bir şekilde aldı

sisteminde korkunç bir bildirim.

Qiao Xueying'i +99 +99 +99 +99 için başarıyla trolledin...

Hemen şok içinde sıçradı. Ne var ne yok? Snow yakında mı?

Sadece öldürme niyetiyle dolu o kısır gözleri düşünmek

Ona doğru bölgeyi dikkatle aramasını sağladı.

Aynı zamanda, Snow'un burada ne yaptığı konusunda da kafası karışmıştı.

Burada toplanan birçok uzman olduğunu bilmek gerekir. Bir kenara koymak

Tüm beşinci derece yetişimciler mevcuttu, ayrıca sekizinci derece yetişimciler de vardı

Chu Zhongtian ve Vali Sang Hong gibi. Rivayetlere göre,

Jiang Luofu da sekizinci derece bir yetişimciydi.

Onun gibi beşinci derece bir yetişimci casusunun buraya gizlice girmesi aptalca değil miydi?

Sang Hong ve Chu klanı kötü şartlarda olsalar da, yine de vardı.

ayak uydurmak için kendi görüntüleri. Bir hainin ortaya çıkması kadar ciddi bir mesele için

Chu klanından, Sang klanı da onlara yardım etmek zorunda kalacaktı.

kamuoyu baskısı.

Ancak, etrafı nasıl ararsa arasın, Snow'u bulamadı

Hiçbir yere. İşte o zaman aklına bir düşünce geldi. Shi'ye döndü

Kun'un yanındaydı ve gerçekten de maiyetinde açık tenli bir delikanlı vardı

ona bakarak.

"Maske takıyorsun, ha?"

Öfke noktalarının girişi ve o tanıdık gözler fazlasıyla yeterliydi

Zu An'ın onun Kar olduğunu doğrulaması için kanıt. Tabii ki, bazılarının aksine

Bir kadın başrol oyuncusunun herkesi kandırmaya çalıştığı o aptal tarihi dramalar

Sadece saçını değiştirerek ve giyerek bir erkek olduğunu düşünmeye başladı

Erkek kıyafetleri, Kar çok daha titizdi. Tüm yüzü farklıydı

daha önceden, muhtemelen bir çeşit giydiği anlamına geliyordu.

maske.

Bununla birlikte, maske aslında oldukça şaşırtıcı bir şekilde yapıldı. Değilse

klavyenin tanımlama özelliğine sahip olması pek olası değildi

Snow'u tanıdı.

Bu tür düşünceleri aklında tutarak, Pei Mianman'a döndü ve sordu.

Gergin bir şekilde, "Genç Bayan Pei, yüzünüzü tamamen gizlemenin bir yolu var mı?

bu dünya?"

"Yüzünü gizle mi?" Pei Mianman bu ani soru karşısında şaşırdı,

ama yine de düzgün bir şekilde cevap verdi, "Var. Zorlu rün ustalarının sahip olduğu

bir kişinin yüzünü tamamen değiştiren maskeler yaratma yeteneği."

"Bu, başka bir kişiyi taklit etmenin son derece kolay olduğu anlamına gelmiyor mu?"

Zu An'a endişeyle sordu.

"Bildiklerime dayanarak, o kadar kolay değil," diye yanıtladı Pei Mianman

başını salladı. "Gelişimciler söz konusu olduğunda son derece ayırt edicidirler

keskinleşmiş duyuları nedeniyle bu tür şeylere, onları kandırmayı zorlaştırır. Eğer

Kendinizi herkesin tanıdığı biri olarak gizlemeye çalışıyorsunuz, şans

sonunda görüleceksiniz. Ama elbette, ne kadar büyük olduğu göz önüne alındığında

Dünya, sadece onu çekip çıkarabilecek biri olabilir

kusursuzca."

"Anlıyorum. Bu bir rahatlama," Zu An rahat bir nefes aldı.

"Neden aniden bunu soruyorsun?" diye sordu Pei Mianman merakla.

Zu An gelişigüzel bir şekilde cevapladı, "Sadece bunun korkunç olacağını düşünüyorum.

Birisi oradaki genç özlemeleri kandırmak için büyüleyici yüzümü kullanıyor. Bu olurdu

gerçekten itibarımı mahvediyor!"

"..." Pei Mianman.

"..." Chu Huanzhao.

Kar, Zu An'ın onun yönüne baktığını fark etmiş gibiydi, bu yüzden

Dikkatini çekmemek için bakışlarını hızla kaçırdı.

Zu An da onu ifşa etmek için acele etmiyordu. Shi'ye bakmak için döndü

Kun ve nefesinin altında soğukça küçümsedi. Yani, her şeyin beyni sizsiniz.

Tahminim nokta atışı gibi görünüyor. O zaman iyi bir oyun oynayalım!

Başından beri, Shi Kun başa çıkmak için gölgelerden ipler çekiyordu

Kendisini korumak için onu bir telaş içinde bırakarak. Ancak, tablolar

şimdi döndü. Zu An gerçek beyninin kim olduğunu biliyordu, oysa Shi Kun

hala gölgelerde olduğunu düşünüyordu. İşleri sarsmanın zamanı gelmişti

küçük.

Wu Qing'i +33 Öfke puanı için başarıyla trolledin.

Yine başka bir Öfke noktası dalgası akmaya başladı ve Zu An'ı memnun etti. Ben

bu kadar popüler olduğunu düşünmemiştim. Bu insanlar kesinlikle göndermek için acele ediyorlar

benim yoluma hediyeler.

Wu Qing orta yaşlı bir adamın arkasında duruyordu, ona gizlice bakıyordu.

Zu An, zamanını kibirli birinin öfke nöbetiyle boşa harcamaktan rahatsız olamazdı

Küçük 'prenses', bu yüzden dikkatini orta yaşlı adama odaklamayı seçti

bunun yerine onunla yürümek. Eğilimine bakılırsa, o olmalı

komşu Sunspring Dükü, Wu Wei.

O ve Chu Zhongtian'ın ışıldayan gülümsemelerle nasıl sohbet ettiklerini görünce.

Yüzleri, neredeyse eski arkadaşlarmış gibi görünmelerini sağlıyordu, Zu An

Bu yaşlı tilkilerin ne kadar kurnaz olduklarına hayret etmekten kendimi alıkoyamadım.

Wu Wei ve Chu Zhongtian birbirleriyle sohbet ederken, Sang

Hong, Zheng klanına doğru ilerledi, burada Zheng Yutang ve

Zheng Dan uzun zamandır onu karşılamak için ayağa kalkmıştı.

"İyi, iyi~" Sang Hong müstakbel gelinini bir günlüğüne değerlendirdi.

Memnuniyet içinde başını sallamadan bir an önce. Zheng Dan'in bakışları olsun,

görgü kuralları ya da eğilim, ondan seçebileceği hiçbir kusur yoktu. O

Arka planının biraz eksik olması üzücüydü, ama Sang klanı

zaten olduğu gibi çok etkili.

Öte yandan, Zheng Dan'in yanakları geleceğini duyunca kırmızıya büründü

kayınpederinin iltifatı, onu daha da kadınsı gösteriyor ve

Onurlu.

Kısa süre sonra herkes yerlerine oturdu. Sang Hong merkezi ele geçirdi

Koltuğunda oturuyordu ve yanında Şehir Lordu Xie Yi ve Müdür Jiang Luofu vardı. Onlar

turnuvanın hakemleriydi, bu yüzden almaları normaldi.

en saygın pozisyonlar.

Chu Zhongtian ve Wu Wei birbirlerinin karşısına oturdular. Onlardan

Her ikisinin de gerçek olanlarının farkında oldukları açıkça ortaya kondu.

rakipler yaklaşan turnuvadaydı.

Bunu takiben Yuan klanının patrikleri, Zheng klanı ve Wang vardı

zümre. Shi Kun, küçük olmasına rağmen, onların arasında da oturuyordu.

onun saygın konumunun kanıtıydı.

"Shi klanının Altıncı Genç Efendisini gücendirdiğini duydum?" Pei

Mianman, sesini Zu An'a aktarırken sahneye baktı

bir gülümsemeyle. Olaylara göz kulak olmuş gibi görünüyordu

akademide de.

Bu soruya karşı, Zu An soğukça homurdandı ve "Sen ne yapıyorsun

Yani onu gücendirdiğim için mi? Beni rencide eden o mu?"

"Nasıl istersen öyle koyabilirsin." Pei Mianman gözlerini devirdi. "Yine de,

İttifak arkadaşın olarak, Shi klanının önemsenmemesi gerektiği konusunda seni uyarmalıyım

ile. Örneğin arkasındaki yaşlı adamı, Shi Lezhi'yi ele alalım. O Shi Kun'un

Koruyucu, ama o sekizinci derece bir yetişimci. Onun kadar kolay yok edebilirdi

bir karıncanın üzerine basmak olurdu."

"Sekizinci derece mi?" Zu An şok olmuştu. "Sekizinci derece yetişimciler misiniz?

günümüzde yaygın mı? Sekizinci derece yetişimcilerin yeterince güçlü olduğunu düşünmüştüm.

bir dük veya markiz pozisyonu ile bahşedilmek. Demek istediğim, hatta bir

Sang Hong gibi vali de sekizinci derecedeydi. Neden bu eski olsun ki?

Adam genç bir veletin koruması olmakla yetiniyor mu?"

"Yine de çoğu valinin sekizinci derece yetişimci olduğunu söylemekte haklısın

hala bir markizin pozisyonu ile bahşedilemeyecek kadar zayıflar

veya dük. Gerçekten de sadece sekizinci dereceden bazı resmi pozisyonlar var.

Uygulayıcılar üstlenebilirler, fakat bu onların herhangi biri için uygun oldukları anlamına gelmez

Sekizinci derece gelişimci orada. Sadece birkaç resmi pozisyon var,

ve onlara dikkatle bakan birçok insan var. İster alabileceğinizi ya da

yeteneğinize, şansınıza ve geçmişinize bağlı değildir.

"Hayatları boyunca çok çalışan birçok uzman var, sadece

İstedikleri resmi pozisyonu elde edemiyorlar. Sonuç olarak, ne kadar genç olursan o kadar genç olursun

Belirli bir yüksekliğe ulaşmayı başarırsanız, seçilme olasılığınız o kadar artar

rakiplerinizin geri kalanı üzerinde resmi bir pozisyon. Shi gibi biri için

Gümüş yıllarında sekizinci dereceye zar zor ulaşmayı başaran Lezhi,

artık onda daha fazla potansiyel kalmadı. Bu nedenle, bir

Kraliyet mahkemesinde iyi bir resmi pozisyon. Buna karşılık, tedavi edilecekti

bunun yerine klanında çok daha iyi.

"Ama onun hiçbir potansiyeli olmadığını söylesem de, bu sadece

diğer sekizinci derece yetişimciler. Senin gibi düşük dereceli yetişimcilere karşı, o

hala karşı karşıya gelme şansın olmayan bir dev."

Zu An cevap olarak başını salladı, neler olup bittiğini kabaca kavramıştı.

Temel olarak, sekizinci derece bir yetişimci olmak bir derece elde etmek gibiydi.

Teorik olarak, bu derece ile bir iş bulabilirdiniz, ancak bol miktarda vardı.

En iyi işler için yarışan dereceleri olan diğer insanlar da. Çaprazlama nedeniyle

rekabette, resmi bir pozisyon alamayan bazıları vardı

ölümüne kadar.

Ancak, aldığınız derece sıradan bir derece değilse, örneğin,

Birinci sınıf onur derecesi, daha büyük bir potansiyele sahip olduğunuz görülecektir.

Doğal olarak, sizin de bir işe girme olasılığınız daha yüksek olacaktır.

Shi Lezhi'nin onunkine kıyasla ortalama bir yeteneğe sahip olduğu anlaşılıyor

diğer derece sahipleri, bu da yarışmada elenmesiyle sonuçlandı.

Bununla birlikte, bunun sadece sekizinci arkadaşına göre olduğu belirtilmelidir

rütbeli gelişimciler. Oradaki diğer gelişimcilerin çoğuyla karşılaştırıldığında, o daha fazlaydı

bir dahi olarak etiketlenmeye layık olmaktansa.

Zu An ilk kez ne kadar rekabetçi olduğuna dair bir fikir ediniyordu

xiulian dünyası vardı. Bunu başarmış birinin bile olduğunu düşünmek

sekizinci dereceye ulaşmak başarısızlık olarak değerlendirilirdi...

Bir dakika, neden o yaşlı adam için kendimi kötü hissediyorum? O sekizinci derece

Gelişimci, zar zor rütbeye adım atmış olsa bile. Tek gereken bir parmak

Beni ölümüne sıkmak için ondan !

İşte o zaman birisi onun için bağırmak için geldi. Bunlara benziyordu

Turnuvaya katılmak önceden sınırlandırılmış bir alanda beklemek zorunda kaldı.

"İyi şanslar. Kazanabileceğine inanıyorum," dedi Pei Mianman

gülümsemek.

İkisi geçen gece birbirleriyle kavga etmişti ve o da kavga etmişti

Bu genç adamın diğerleri kadar işe yaramaz olmadığını kendi gözleriyle gördü

onu öyle düşünün. Belki de bugün herkesi şaşırtabilir.

"İyi gözlerin var," diye iltifat etti Zu An.

"..." Pei Mianman.

Chu Huanzhao daha fazla dayanamadı. Mutsuz bir şekilde bağırdı ve şöyle dedi:

"Abla Pei, ben de turnuvaya katılıyorum! Neden sen değilsin

Benim için kök salmak mı?"

Pei Mianman nazikçe gülümsedi ve konuştu: "Küçük kız kardeş Huanzhao,

Zaferiniz şimdiden garantilenmiş değil mi?"

Chu Huanzhao, Pei Mianman'ın sözlerinin samimiyetsiz olduğunu hissedebiliyordu, bu yüzden

mutsuz bir şekilde somurtmaya devam etti.

Kayınbiraderimi baştan çıkarmaya çalışamaz, değil mi? Hmph! Sadece sen

Bekle, kesinlikle ablamın bundan bahsedeceğim!

Ancak, ablasının Zheng'e karşı tutumunu düşündüğünde

Dan, aniden tereddüt etmeye başladı. Ablasının oyunculuk yaptığını hissetti

kayınbiraderine karşı çok kayıtsızca, sanki onun için önemli değilmiş gibi

tüm.

Unut gitsin, o zaman sadece kapıcı olmam gerekecek!"

İkisi bekleme alanına yöneldi, diğer dövüşçüler de buradan

Chu klanı çoktan toplanmıştı. En karşıtında Yuan vardı

Wendong ve Yuan klanından diğer dövüşçüler. Yuan'ın korkusundan

Wendong düellolarında geri adım attı, Zu An yüksek sesle bağırdığından emin oldu,

"Hey, Yuan Wendong! Yüce gönüllü olacağım ve sana yüzüstü olacağımı söyleyeceğim

daha sonra yukarı çıkacak sonuncusu. Geri adım atmasan iyi edersin, yoksa seni lanetleyeceğim

Bırakılacak toplar!"

"..." Yuan Wendong.

Yuan Wendong'u +666 Rage için başarıyla trolledin!

Yuan Wendong'un yüzü inanılmaz derecede kırmızıya döndü. Ne kadar yoğun olduğunu bir kenara bırakırsak

İki klan arasındaki rekabet, en azından hala bazılarını koruyacaklardı

Toplumda görgü kuralları düzeyi. Birinin hayal gücünün ötesindeydi

aslında ona bir gibi hakaretler savururdu.

Ancak, onu izleyen pek çok önemli figürle, onun kadar öfkeli

oldu, hakarete karşılık vermemeye cesaret etti. Bunun yerine, soğukça şöyle dedi: "Çok

kuyu. Kardeş Zu'nun yeteneklerini denemek için sabırsızlanıyorum!"

Hmph! Onu daha sonra sakat bırakmazsam, soyadımdan vazgeçeceğim!

1. Alibaba'nın kurucusu Jack Ma'dan ünlü alıntı, insanları tavsiye etti

haftanın 9 günü sabah 9'dan akşam 6'a kadar çalışmak.

Bölüm 112: Yüzün Var mı?

Acımak?

Sadece o değildi. Yuan klanındaki epeyce kişi de nazikçe

Zu An'a önemli miktarda Öfke puanı katkıda bulundu. Aslında, hatta

Bazı seyirciler de bu açıklamalardan etkileniyordu.

Ji Dengtu bile etrafındaki tüm evli kadınlara bakmayı bırakmıştı

Zu An'a bakmak için.

Bu adam kesinlikle dayak istiyor. Kızımın kalmasını sağlamalıyım

Bu adamdan uzakta, yoksa alması sadece bir zaman meselesi.

onun hilekarlıklarına karıştı.

Ama yine de, o adam bana oldukça güzel bir kitap verdi. Nasıl olduğunu merak ediyorum

bu tür kitaplardan daha fazlasına sahiptir. Ölüme yakın bir duruma kadar dövülürse

Yuan Wendong tarafından, içeri girip onu kitap ışığında kurtarmalı mıyım?

bana verdi mi?

Sahnede Snow usulca homurdandı, "Bu adam her zamanki gibi nefret dolu."

Onun önünde, Shi Kun şaşırtıcı bir şekilde onaylayarak başını salladı. İlişki kurabilirdi

bu sözlere derinden bağlı.

"O baştan sona bir. O asla büyük işler yapmaya gelmeyecek

şeyler," diye küçümsedi Sang Qian.

Ancak önünde oturan Sang Hong ona hatırlattı

Ki iletimi yoluyla, "7.500.000 gümüş kazanabildiği gerçeği

Silverhook Casino'dan taels ve aritmetik öğretmeni olmak

Akademi onun sıradan bir birey olmadığını gösteriyor. Onun tarafından kandırılmayın

dış. Size birçok kez söyledim, sadece

yüzeysel. Meselelerin özüne daha derinden bakmalısın."

"Anlıyorum," diye yanıtladı Sang Qian, aslında hiçbir şey düşünmemiş olsa da

babasının söyledikleri.

Bu arada, Xie Yi, Xie Xiu'ya sormak için gizlice bir ki iletimi gönderdi, "Bu mu?

sözünü ettiğin adam mı?"

"Gerçekten de. O Zu An," diye yanıtladı Xie Xiu.

Ablası Xie Daoyun, kaşlarını çatarak, "Bu adam

İnanılmaz derecede kaba. Onu sevmiyorum."

Xie Xiu tam konuyu açıklamak üzereyken Efsaneyi hatırladı.

akademideki Moochlord. Zu An'ın ona sorduğunu hatırlıyor gibiydi

ablası hakkında bir keresinde ve aniden, devam etmesi gerektiğini hissetti

ablası o tehlikeli adamdan güvenli bir şekilde uzaktaydı.

Güneş Pınarı Dükü Wu Wei şaşkına döndü, "Yani bu askere alınmış oğul-

Brightmoon Dükü'nün kayınvalidesi? Chu klanı düşmek zorunda gibi görünüyor

düşüşe geçti!"

Wu Qing, babasının Zu An'ı yere serdiğini duyunca çok sevindi.

bugün akademide değiller. Kendini nasıl utandırdığını izleyeceğim

ve aracılığıyla, Zu An!

Sahnede Zu An'ın geçmişini gerçekten bilen tek kişi

Jiang Luofu. Sakince taşıyan genç adama baktı.

Kalabalığın eleştirileri ve yardım edemedi ama derin düşüncelere daldı.

Onu bunca zaman alçakta yatmaya zorlayan şey neydi? Yapmayı planlıyor mu?

Bugün turnuvada adını duyurmak mı?

Sang Hong boğazını temizledi ve duyurdu, "Klanlar Turnuvası

Chu klanı ve Yuan klanı arasında başlamak üzere. İlk ve

Her şeyden önce, kuralları tekrarlamama izin verin. Her iki taraf da

savaşçılarının düello halkasına gireceği sıra ve

yukarı doğru gönderin. Sıralama daha sonra artık değiştirilemez.

Hangi taraf daha fazla savaş kazanırsa kazansın, Linchuan'ın %80'i ona verilecek

Komutanlığın silah piyasasında ise kaybeden taraf ile baş başa kalacaktır

Kalan% 20. Savaş sırasında,

potansiyel olarak ölümlere yol açabilecek ölümcül darbeleri kasıtlı olarak uygulamak veya

aksi takdirde savaşçı olarak haklarınız iptal edilecektir. Kendimi netleştirdim mi?"

"Evet!"

Her iki taraftaki savaşçılar hep bir ağızdan cevap verdiler.

Ancak, Zu An'ın kurallar hakkında çürütecek çok şeyi vardı. İsim olarak, onlar

birbirini öldürmekten kısıtlanmış, ancak 'kasten' teriminin kullanılması

çekişmeye yer açtı. Bir kişi sadece kendisinin de öyle olduğunu iddia edebilir

düelloda ısındı ve kritik anda geri duramadı. Sürece

Bunu çok açık bir şekilde yapmadığı için, kimse onun olup olmadığını kesin olarak söyleyemedi

bilerek ya da bilmeyerek yapmak.

"Şimdi, dizi kağıdını gönderin. Bundan sonra bir tütsü zamanı,

turnuva resmen başlayacak!"

Duyuruyu yaptıktan sonra, Sang Hong koltuğuna geri döndü. İçin

Önceki turnuvalarda sadece Şehir Lordunu hakem olarak davet etmişlerdi ama

Bu seferki turnuvanın doğası farklıydı. Bu sadece bir şey değildi

Chu klanı ve Yuan klanı arasında artık savaşıyor. Bunun yerine,

Chu klanı Wu klanına karşı. Doğal olarak, birine ihtiyaçları olacaktı.

burada daha fazla yetki.

İki klan girecekleri sıraya çoktan karar vermişlerdi

Düello yüzüğü önceden yapılır. Chu Chuyan diziyi sunmak için yukarı doğru yürüdü

kâğıt. Aynı zamanda Hong Xingying'in Zu An'ın yanından geçtiği zamandı. O

Chu klanının gönderdiği ilk dövüşçüydü.

Yüzeyde, ciddiyetle hazırlık yapıyor gibi görünüyordu.

kavga ediyor, ama gerçekte, o kadar alçak bir sesle konuşuyordu ki, sadece ikisi

duyabiliyorlardı. "Daha önce nasıl davrandığın konusunda neşeli hissediyor musun?"

"Ne?" Zu An şaşkına dönmüştü. Bu adam beni hemen önce kışkırtmaya mı çalışıyor?

Onun kavgası?

Hong Xingying homurdandı. "Senin içinden neler geçtiğini bilmiyorum

Aklını başına aldı ama etrafta hakaretler savurmanın senin için şanlı olduğunu mu sandın

sıradan bir gibi mi? Herkesin nasıl alay ettiğini fark etmedin mi?

sen? Hayır, sadece seninle alay etmiyorlardı. Hepimizle alay ediyorlardı

Chu klanı!

"Senin gibi biri sadece Chu klanının kaynağı olacak

Aşağılama. Chu klanı çoktan almak için bir gülünç haline geldi

Sen onun damadı olarak içeri girdin, ama yine de ona eklemeye devam ediyorsun."

Zu An eğlendi. "Ne kadar kötü dövüldüğünü unuttun mu?

son seferinde?"

Bu sözler bilinçaltında Hong Xingying'in gözlerini Pei'ye doğru getirdi

Mianman ve yutkundu. Ancak, çabucak ondan kurtuldu ve

Soğukça homurdandı. "Hepinizin arkadan saklanarak inanılmaz olduğunuzu düşünüyorsunuz

bir kadının! Hah, düello yüzüğünde onların yardımını alamayacaksın

Bugün. Herkes seni olduğun çöp olarak görecek!"

"Seni kaybedeceğimden bu kadar emin kılan nedir?" Zu An yapması gerektiğini hissetti

Hong Xingying ile bahis yapmak için bu şansı kullanmak, yoksa bir

Bu tanrısal fırsatın büyük israfı.

"Düelloyu kazanabileceğini düşünemezsin, değil mi?" diye küçümsedi

Hong Xingying. "Bugünkü işiniz sadece kaybetmek ve diğer her şeyi bırakmak

ABD. Sadece benim gibi biri Chu klanına şan getirebilir. Herkes sever

Yapabilirsin, geri kalanımızın kanımızla kazandığı ihtişamın tadını çıkarmaktır,

ter ve gözyaşı!"

Zu An bu sözleri çürütmek istedi, ancak hakem çoktan ilan etmişti

ilk turun başlangıcı. Bu yüzden Hong Xingying kıyafetlerini topladı, kaldırdı

Kafasını kaldırdı ve düello halkasına doğru yürümeye başladı.

"Ne kadar heyecan verici! Sonunda bugün tüm stresimi atmayı başardım.

O çöp benim tarafımdan çürütemeyeceği bir noktaya kadar indirildi

artık. Ahhh, bu gerçekten iyi hissettiriyor!"

Hong Xingying daha önce hiç bu kadar yatıştırılmış hissetmemişti.

Hmph, Chu klanının eline ilk zaferi getirdiğimi izle!

Öte yandan, bu adam daha önce Yuan klanı tarafından dövülecekti.

Bu büyük kalabalık burada. O zamana kadar, hem Usta hem de Bayan bilecek

ilk bayan için kim daha uygun!

Sadece bugün kazanmakla kalmayıp, ezici bir çoğunlukla kazanmalıyım.

avantaj! Ancak bu şekilde Chu klanında başımı kaldırabilir ve

Müdür Jiang'ın dikkatine. Ona yeteneklerimi bildireceğim ve belki de o

gelecekte benimle ilgilenebilir. Sonra resmi bir pozisyon alacağım ve

İlk bayanla evlenmek için buraya dön!

Bu arada, düello yüzüğünün yanında, Qin Wanru ona doğru eğildi

Kocası kaşlarını çatarak fısıldadı, "Öbür taraftaki o kişinin nesi var

yan? Neden onu daha önce görmedim?"

Chu Zhongtian başını salladı ve konuştu, "Ben de bilmiyorum. Muhtemelen

Yuan klanından değil, Wu klanından. Ancak, gerçekten bir insan var mı

Wu klanının uzmanları arasında onun gibi mi?"

"Xingying'in savaşı kazanabileceğini düşünüyor musun?"

Qin Wanru'nun Hong Xingying hakkında iyi bir fikri vardı. O son derece bir

Yetkin adam ve babası tüm bu yıllar boyunca Chu klanına sadıktı

çok. Aslında, Hong Xingying'i diğer tüm adaylara tercih etmişti

Sonra ama kızının Zu An'ı seçmesi üzücüydü.

Sadece bunu düşünmek bile dumanını dumana boğdu ve Zu An'ın kafasında keskin bir parıltı attı

yön.

Qin Wanru'yu +111 Rage için başarıyla trolledin!

Zu An boğulmuş hissediyordu. Lütfen, uğraşan Hong Xingying'di

Daha önce bana ve geri bildirimde bulunma şansım bile olmadı. Nesin sen

Bana kızmak mı? Menopozunuz mu?

Karısının düşüncelerinden habersiz Chu Zhongtian gelişigüzel bir şekilde cevapladı, "Xingying

Oldukça yetenekli ve Chu klanımız onu yıllar boyunca geri tuttu.

Yine de, yine de üçüncü derecenin zirvesine ulaşmayı başardı. O

Özellikle güçlü olmayabilir, ama kesinlikle zayıf da değil. Bu

diğer taraftaki kişi de aynı rütbede görünüyor. Galiba

Xingying ona karşı iyi bir performans gösterebilmeli."

Kocasının sözlerini duyan Qin Wanru sonunda kalbini

kolaylaştırmak.

Düello yüzüğünde, Hong Xingying kılıcını çekti ve salladı

Zarif. Rakibine kibirli bir şekilde baktı ve şöyle dedi: "Kendine isim ver! Ben

İsimsiz ruhları bıçağımla kesme!"

"Ooh, Chu'da böyle birinin olacağını hiç düşünmemiştim

zümre! O çok havalı!"

"Eh, herkes askere alınmış damadına kıyasla iyi görünürdü."

...

Hong Xingying'in havalı sözleri ve süslü yüzü küçük bir kargaşaya yol açtı

kızlar arasında. Ancak, tavrı Chu'ya kaşlarını çattı

Zhongtian'ın alnı. Bu çocuk biraz fazla gösteriş yapıyor.

Buna karşılık, diğer taraf usulca güldü ve konuştu: "Ben Yuan klanının

Chen Lei."

Sonra sessizliğe büründü.

Görünüş ya da mizaç açısından olsun, Chen Lei gerçekten çok uzaktı

Hong Xingying'inkinin altında. Kalabalığın yanaşması uzun sürmedi

Hong Xingying ile.

Öte yandan, Hong Xingying kaşlarını çattı. Bunu hiç duymamıştı

daha önce kişi. Ancak, bu kişinin hedeflerden biri olmadığı gerçeği

Chu klanının soruşturması onun bir kişi olarak kabul edilmediğini gösterdi.

tehdit.

Pekala, bu Chen Lei adamı yeniliğe yükselmek için benim basamak taşım olacak

Heights! Güzel bir şekilde kazanacağımdan emin olacağım, böylece bu önemli figürler

etrafta beni fark edecek!

Bu tür düşünceleri göz önünde bulundurarak, savaşçı ruhu dalgalanmaya başladı. "Af

ben!"

Hiç tereddüt etmeden kılıcını salladı ve Chen Lei'ye doğru hücum etti.

Chu Zhongtian onaylayarak başını salladı. Hong Xingying'in öyle olduğunu düşünüyordu

Düelloya karşı kibirli bir tavır takındı, ama neyse ki, düelloya izin vermedi.

kibir, kayıtsızlığa dönüşür. İkincisi ılımlı bir şekilde üstlenmeyi seçti

düşmanına baskı yapmak için saldırı pozisyonu.

Öte yandan, Chen Lei kılıcını kırbaçlarken öfkeyle bağırdı

ve öne doğru da fırladı. İki adam birbirleriyle çatıştı.

silahları, kıvılcımların uçmasına neden oluyor.

Çatışmalarından kaynaklanan geri tepme, her ikisinin de beş adım geri çekilmesine neden oldu

Aynı anda Hong Xingying de onun hünerinden endişe duymuştu

düşman. İsimsiz Chen Lei'nin gerçekten koşum yapacağını hiç düşünmemişti

böyle büyük bir güç.

"Tekrar!"

Dikkatsiz olmaya cesaret edemeyen Hong Xingying, ilk fikrinden vazgeçti.

yeteneklerini göstererek ve daha istikrarlı bir dövüş tarzı seçti.

İkisinin biriyle darbe ticaretine başlaması uzun sürmedi

başka. Düello halkasının altından bile, seyirciler

İki soğuk silahın çarpışmasından gelen ürpertici hava.

"İkisini daha önce hiç duymamıştım, ama benden daha güçlüler

beklenen. Tüm büyük klanların arasında bu kadar güçlü yetişimciler var mı?"

"Hong Xingying Brightmoon Akademisi'nden bir öğrenci gibi görünüyor

Gökyüzü sınıfı, ama bu Chen Lei'yi daha önce hiç duymamıştım."

...

İkisi de birbirleriyle eşit derecede eşleşti. Bazen, Hong

Xingying üstünlük sağlıyor gibi görünüyordu, sadece Chen Lei'nin

aniden bir dizi saldırgan grevle onu bastırın. Kalabalık hissetti

Yoğun savaştan kanları akıyor. Yardım edemediler ama hayal ettiler

düello ringinde olsalardı ne kadar hayranlık uyandırıcı olurdu

yerine.

Savaşlar genellikle her iki tarafın da eşit derecede eşleşmesi durumunda izlemek için eğlenceliydi.

Tek taraflı savaşlar sadece bir gerginlikten ve yutturmacadan yoksundu.

öngörülemeyen sonuç. Kalabalık ilk maçın olacağını düşünmedi

O kadar yoğundu ki, birçoğu kendilerini ayağa kalkarken buldular

daha yakından bakmak için.

İşte o zaman Hong Xingying ve Chen Lei bir kez öfkeyle çarpıştı

birbirinden ayrılmadan önce daha fazla. İkisi de hava almak için nefes nefese kaldılar.

Bedenlerinin içindeki kaotik ki'yi düzenlemeye çalıştılar.

Hong Xingying'in parmakları arasındaki dokuma biraz açılmıştı, ama o

hiç dikkate almadım. Bu savaşta çizgide bu kadar yüksek bahislerle, o

Burada kaybetmeyi göze alamazdım. Değerini kanıtlamak için bu savaşı kazanmak zorundaydı.

Üstat, Hanımefendi, etrafta oturan tüm önde gelen figürler ve çoğu

Hepsinden önemlisi, Zu An!

Ha? Neden böyle bir anda o adamı düşündüm? Tsk, nasıl

uğursuz!

"Orta Düzey Kılıç Oyunu!"

Hong Xingying umutsuzca akademinin sahip olduğu her şeyi öğreniyordu

kayıt olduğundan beri teklif etmek. Orta Düzey Kılıç Oyunu bir kılıç sanatıydı

sadece akademideki daha yetenekli öğrencilere öğretildi. Buna rağmen

Cansız adı, kahramanlığı inanılmazdı ve çok az açıklığı vardı

çok. Kılıç sanatından en az üç kat daha güçlüydü

daha önce kullanmak.

Bunu ifşa etmek için gece gündüz gayretle uyguluyordu.

Herkes, özellikle de Müdür Jiang, bu kritik anda!

Metalik bir yankılanma sesi duyuldu, elindeki kılıç bulanıklaştı

Chen Lei'nin hayati noktalarına doğru delinen birden fazla siluet.

Bunu görünce Jiang Luofu hafifçe onayladı. Bu öğrencinin bir

oldukça yüksek yetenek. Çok uzun zaman önce akademiye katılmış olmasına rağmen,

bu kılıç ustalığını iyi bir seviyede kavramayı başarmıştır.

Yüksek sesli bir 'puchi' ile kılıç Chen Lei'nin vücudunu deldi.

Ben kazandım!

Hong Xingying tam rahat bir nefes almak üzereyken bir nefes aldığını fark etti.

düşmanın dudaklarında uğursuz kıvrılma. Hızlıca bıçağını geri çekmeye çalıştı, sadece

düşmanının kılıcını aniden kesmeden önce kılıcını tutması için

aşağı.

Fırtınalı Kılıç Sanatı!

Chen Lei aniden çılgınca bir ipucu olarak korkunç bir momentumla vurdu

alnında ortaya çıktı. Kılıcı korkunç bir güçle saldırıya uğradı

Hong Xingying.

Ki zırhı Hong Xingying hemen etrafında belirmişti

Fırtınalı Kılıç Sanatı karşısında çatladı ve onun bir fırlamasına neden oldu.

ağız dolusu kan. Sönük bir kum torbası gibi, dibine çöktü.

düello yüzüğü.

Chu Zhongtian hemen Hong Xingying'i yakalamak için ileri fırladı. O

Hong Xingying'in birkaç akupunktur noktasını hızlıca kanını engellemek için mühürledi

Kılıç kuvvetini etkisiz hale getirmek için devam etmeden önce kayıp, hala içinde öfkeli

ikincisinin vücudu.

"Kazanan Yuan klanından Chen Lei!"

Şehir Lordu Malikanesi'nden yetkili kalabalığa açıkladı.

Yüzünde utanmış bir ifadeyle Hong Xingying mırıldandı, "Usta,

Hanımefendi, ben..."

İşte o zaman alaycı bir ses duyuldu, "Beyan eden kimdi?

Chu klanının onurunu getireceği için gururla

sadece aşağılanmaya neden olabilir mi? Yüzün hiç ağrıyor mu?"

Bölüm 113: I Want to Mooch Too

"Ben..." Hong Xingying'in yüzü kızardı. Aslında bu adam tarafından alay konusu oldum!

Hong Xingying'i +999 Öfke için başarıyla trolledin!

Ancak, Zu An'ın sözlerini hiçbir şekilde çürütemediğini fark etti. O vardı

sadece çok daha önce övündüm. Ancak, çabucak ondan kurtuldu ve

"Sadece benden daha acı bir kayıp yaşayacaksın! En azından ben

Rakibime karşı doğrudan savaşabildim ve sadece finalde kaybettim

grev..."

Zu An dilini tıklattı ve cevap olarak homurdandı, "Bir kayıp bir kayıptır.

Ayrıca, savaşımı kesinlikle kaybedeceğimi kim söyledi? Ne kadar doğru olduğunu göstereceğim

Uzman daha sonra gibi görünüyor!"

"Yeter!" Hong Xingying cevap vermeden önce, Qin Wanru çoktan cevap vermişti

sabrının sınırına gelin. Zu An'a soğukça baktı ve konuştu:

"Hala Chu klanının bir üyesi misin, değil misin? Sizi motive etmek yerine

Kendi takım arkadaşlarım, hala onunla alay etmek için buraya geldin!"

Zu An gelişigüzel bir şekilde omuz silkerek konuştu, "Maçını çoktan kaybetti, peki ne var

onu motive etmenin kullanımı? Sahneye çıkıp tekrar savaşacak mı?"

"Ağzını kapat!" Qin Wanru soğukça çırpındı. "Her şeyini veren herkes

düello yüzüğünde tüm Chu klanının saygısına layıktır. Olsun, olsun olmasın

Kazanır ya da kaybeder, şüphesiz Chu klanımızın bir üyesidir. Eğer sadece biz

Kaybeden herkesle alay etmek, herkesin kalbini ürpertmez miydi?

başka? Eğer ağzını nasıl izleyeceğini bilmiyorsan, sadece kapalı tut!"

Chu Zhongtian da araya girdi, "Zu An, eylemlerin gerçekten de

uygunsuz. Kazanç ve mağlubiyet tamamen normaldir. Chu klanımız öyle değil

Kendi halkımızı bir kayıp yüzünden bastıracak kadar dar görüşlü ve nankör."

Zu An kaşlarını çattı. O zaman Hong Hong geldiğinde hiçbiriniz benim için adım atmadınız mı?

Xingying daha önce benimle alay mı etti?

Tam tartışmak üzereyken Chu Chuyan kollarını çekiştirdi.

Onunla ki aktarımı yoluyla konuştu, "Annemi kızdırma

artık. Bölgenize dönmeli ve arkanıza yaslanmalısınız. Hala ihtiyacımız var

savaş planlarımızı daha sonra tartışmak üzere."

Daha önce savaşçılarının dizilişiyle o kadar ilgiliydi ki,

Hong Xingying'in daha önce Zu An'la alay etme eylemini fark etmemişti, bu yüzden hissetti

o da çizginin dışında hareket ediyordu.

Sadece Hong Xingying olsaydı bu bir şeydi, ama hareketleri ürpertici olurdu

diğer savaşçılarının da kalpleri. Sonuçta, kimse garanti edemezdi

burada kazandılar. Kendi halklarından böyle bir aşağılanmaya maruz kalmak zorunda kalsalardı.

Kaybettikleri için, Chu klanında kesinlikle derin bir hayal kırıklığına uğrayacaklardı.

Sonuçta, Zu An hala Chu klanının bir üyesiydi.

damadı hazırlandı. Onun tavrı kolayca Chu klanının tavrı olarak yorumlanabilirdi

tavır.

Zu An derin bir iç çekti ve kendi koltuğuna geri döndü.

Bu arada, Chu klanındaki kargaşa dikkatlerden kaçmadı.

diğerleri. Zu An'ın Chu Zhongtian ve Qin tarafından azarlanmasını izlemek

Wanru, epeyce insan elinde olmadan neşeyle alay etti, "Bakın, biliyordum

Askere alınmış bir damadının bu alanda herhangi bir duruşu olması mümkün değildir.

ev halkı!"

"Karını kovmak nasıl bu kadar kolay olabilir? Nasıl olduğuna bakın

Eleştir -di. Chu klanındaki bir köpeğe bile ondan daha iyi davranıldığını düşünüyorum!"

"Bu yüzden her zaman hepiniz gibi gençlerin düşünmemesi gerektiğini söylüyorum

kısayollar kullanma. Kazandığından daha fazlasını kaybetmeye mahkumsun!"

"Ama Chu First Miss'in ne kadar güzel olduğuna bak! Yapmaya istekli olurdum

Her sabah onun güzel yüzüne uyanabildiğim sürece haksızlığa uğrayacağım!"

"Tsk, sen umutsuz bir davasın... Tamam, beni de say."

...

Düello halkasının yanında, Shi Kun yavaşça sandalyesine yaslandı

Memnun bir gülümseme dudaklarına süzülürken. "Aynen senin de söylediğin gibi, Kar,

Adamın Chu klanında gerçekten hiç yeri yok. Endişelerime benziyor

asılsızdı."

Snow, Zu An'ın yere serildiğini görünce de çok sevindi. "Tabii ki! Bu

Genç bayan daha önce odasına girmesine hiç izin vermedi, bu yüzden genç efendi,

Onun genç hanımefendiden faydalanması konusunda endişelenmene gerek yok!"

Bu arada, Yuan Wendong biraz kaşlarını çattı.

Zu An'ın Chu klanında herhangi bir yeri olmadığı göz önüne alındığında, bir

Onu rakibim olarak seçerek hata mı yapıyorsunuz? Sadece duruşumu düşürürdü

benden çok daha aşağıda biriyle savaşmak.

Ancak, düşünce zihninde yüzeye çıkar çıkmaz, hızla bastırıldı

Bir keresinde Zu An'ın nefret dolu yüzü zihninde belirdi. Kendini yeniden doğruladı

bir kez daha karar. Daha sonra, onu sonsuza dek sakat bıraktığımdan emin olacağım, böylece

ağzını çalıştırmanın bedelinin ne olduğunu öğrenir!

Bu arada, Zheng klanı arasında, Zheng Dan'ın üzerinde bir gülümseme ipucu vardı

dudakları. Görünüşe göre Zu An, Chu Chuyan'a düşündüğüm kadar yakın değil. Ben

Zu An'a ulaşmak için bu fırsatı kullanmalıdır. Kartlarımı oynadığım sürece

7.500.000 gümüş taels borç notunu kolayca bulabilmeliyim

yeterli.

Ama yine, Zu An'ın sonuna kadar hayatta kalıp kalamayacağı başka bir soruydu

günün ya da değil. Hayatta kalmayı başarsa bile, muhtemelen

en azından sakat kalırdı. Ona bir seferde biraz endişe gösterirsem

Bu şekilde, onun sempatisini kolayca kazanabilmeliyim, değil mi?

Bu arada, Pei Mianman duruma esrarengiz bir şekilde bakıyordu.

gülümsemek. Zu An, Chu klanında ne kadar çok mücadele ederse, o kadar faydalı olur

benim için. Yakında yardımımı aramaktan başka çaresi kalmadığını görecek ve

O zamana kadar, benim adıma muhasebe kitapçığını aramasını sağlayabilirim.

"Affedersiniz, buradaki bu güzel kadın..."

Birdenbire, bir adam ona kendisinin de gülümsediği bir gülümsemeyle yaklaştı

düşünce büyüleyiciydi.

Gerçekte, Pei Mianman etraftaki adamların dikkatini çekiyordu

bir süredir bölge. Sonuçta, figürü çok çekiciydi,

öyle ki erkekler gözlerini ondan ayırmakta zorlanacaklardı. Üstüne üstlük

Bu, tek başına oturuyordu, bu da sanki oturmuyormuş gibi görünmesini sağladı

herhangi bir klana aittir. Bu yüzden, bazılarının bir atış yapmaya çalışması kaçınılmazdı

onunla birlikte.

"Scram!"

Adama bakma zahmetine girmeden, Pei Mianman elini kaldırdı,

belirsiz bir siyah alev titremesini ortaya çıkarmak.

"Y-evet!"

Karşısındaki kadının önemseyemeyeceği biri olmadığını fark ettikten sonra

Adam en ufak bir tereddüt etmeden korkuyla geri çekildi. Fuar alanında

Aynı zamanda, durumu değerlendirenler bir arayış içinde

Pei Mianman'a yaklaşma fırsatı da aceleyle herhangi bir niyeti bastırdı

akıllarında vardı.

Bu arada, Chu klanının dinlenme alanında, Chu Huanzhao Zu'nun

An'ın yüzünde korkunç bir bakış vardı ve ona bir fincan çay uzattı.

"Kayınbirader, kızma. Gel, bir fincan çay iç ve serinletici bir

küçük. Aslında ben de Hong XIngying adamını sevmiyorum. Benim

Baba ve anne hep böyle olmuştur. Bize her zaman katı davranıyorlar,

sadece yabancılara karşı dostane olmak için. Buna gerçekten hiç dayanamıyorum. Bazen, ben

Gerçekten onların çocuğu olup olmadığımı merak ediyorum."

"Evet, bundan da şüpheliyim." Zu An ona bakarken kahkahalara boğuldu

iyi donanımlı annesi ve ablasından farklı olan göğüs bölgesi.

"..." Chu Huanzhao.

Chu Huanzhao'yu +404 Rage için başarıyla trolledin!

"Kamçım nerede!" Chu Huanzhao öfkeyle bağırdı ve bocaladı

onun Ağlayan Kamçısı.

Zu An hızlıca gülümsemesini geri çekti ve ciddiyetle söyledi, "Huanzhao, teşekkür ederim

sen."

Sesindeki benzeri görülmemiş samimiyeti duyan Chu Huanzhao aniden

rahatsız edici bir şekilde kıpırdamaya başladı. "D-terleme! Biz silah arkadaşıyız

Ne de olsa birlikte para kazanmak için çok çalışıyoruz!"

Zu An'ın yüzü karardı. Onun şu zamana atıfta bulunduğunu biliyordu:

Erik Çiçeği On Üç'ten para gasp ettiler. Gerçekten, onun bir

'Para kazanmanın' ne anlama geldiğine dair yanlış bir algı mı?

Kısa süre sonra ikinci tur başladı. Chu klanının Deng Zhaoke'sine karşıydı

Yuan klanından Zhu Qing!

Ancak bu iki dövüşçünün gücünde büyük bir eşitsizlik vardı

zaman içinde. Deng Zhaoke kaybetmeden önce bir an bile dayanamadı

Zhu Qing'e. Bununla birlikte, Chu klanı art arda iki tur kaybetmişti!

Herkes bunu fark ettiğinde kendi aralarında mırıldanmaya başladı.

bir şeyler yanlıştı. Geçmiş turnuvalarda, Chu klanı her zaman oradaydı.

Yuan klanına karşı bir avantaj, bazen sonucu mühürlemek

beşinci veya altıncı tur. Yine de, Chu klanı ilk ikisini kaybetti

Eşleşen. Bu, yeni bir çağın inmek üzere olduğu anlamına mı geliyordu?

Brightmoon Şehri?

Daha zeki olanlardan bazıları bunun içinde daha derin düşündü. Ayakta durma açısından olsun

ya da birikim, Yuan klanı Chu klanıyla boy ölçüşemezdi. Oldu

Birdenbire az bilinen iki kişiyi nasıl gönderebildikleri tuhaf.

Chu klanının uzmanlarını bastırmak için astları.

Hem Chu Zhongtian hem de Qin Wanru'nun alınlarında sıkı bir örgü vardı.

Aynı anda iki tur kaybedeceklerini düşünmemişlerdi

Öyle. İşler onlar için sıkıntılı olacak gibi görünüyordu

Bugün.

Chu Chuyan'ın da yüzünde soğuk bir bakış vardı. Ona bakmak için döndü

küçük kız kardeş ve Zu An, arkada birbirleriyle sohbet ediyorlardı.

Ne kadar rahat olduklarını görünce kalbi sıkıca kenetlendi. O vardı

Sonucun zaten olacağı umuduyla onları en arkada düzenledi

Onlara geldiği zamana göre belirlenmeli, ancak mevcut durum göz önüne alındığında,

onlar da savaşmak zorunda kalabilirler.

Bu işe yaramaz. Bunun olmasına izin veremem!

Zu An tamamen çaresizdi ve küçük kız kardeşi zar zor oraya ulaşmıştı.

üçüncü derece. Bu düello halkasındaki en zayıf olanlar oldukları söylenebilir.

Bunun da ötesinde, küçük kız kardeşi çok eğlenceli bir insandı, öyle ki

savaş becerilerini düzgün bir şekilde öğrenmek için çaba sarf etmemişti. Gerçek bir kavgada, o

hiç umudu yoktu.

Qin Wanru sormadan edemedi, "Koca, ya bir sonraki maçı kaybedersek

Çok?"

"İmkansız," diye yanıtladı Chu Zhongtian. "Sırada Yue Shan var."

Sırada Yue Shen olduğunu duyunca, Qin Wanru iç çekti.

yardım. Yue Shan, Chu Malikanesi'nin muhafızlarının kaptanıydı ve içerideydi

Kızıl Pelerinli Ordu'nun hücumu. Hepsinden önemlisi, yetişimi

zaten zirve beşinci dereceye ulaşmıştı. Ayakta dururken, genellikle yapmazdı

Bu tür Klanlar Turnuvası türü etkinliklere katılmak, ancak

Wu klanı da işin içine girmişti.

Ek sigorta için onu isim listesine eklediler.

Geriye dönüp baktığımda, bunu yaptıkları için şanslıydılar, yoksa Chu klanı bunu yapardı

bu sefer başım belaya girdi.

Yue Shan'ın rakibi Yuan klanının çocuklarından biriydi. Gerek yok

Diyelim ki, zaferi kolayca yakaladı ve Chu klanına yüksek sesle tezahüratlar getirdi.

yan.

Ancak, Chu Chuyan'ın kaşları çatık kaldı. En iyi durum

Onlar için senaryo, Yue Shan'ın en iyi uzmanlardan birini temizlemesiydi.

Yuan klanı. Bu, kalan savaşçılar üzerindeki baskıyı hafifletecekti. Henüz

rakibinin Yuan tarafından gönderilen savaşçılardan daha zayıf olduğu ortaya çıktı

önceki iki raundu klanlayın. Her nasılsa, Yuan klanı okumuş gibi hissediyordu

sıralamaları.

Dördüncü turda, Chu klanından Chu Yucheng ile karşı karşıya geldi.

Yuan klanının Yuan Bao'su.

Chu Yucheng'in sevimli tombul görünümüne rağmen, korkunçtu

düello halkasındaki canavar. Bir mini tank gibi, dünyanın her yerine çarptı

Ve rakibini ringden aşağı indirmesi uzun sürmedi.

Beşinci turda, Chu klanından Chu Hongcai, Yuan ile karşı karşıya geldi

Klanın Yuan Ya.

Chu Hongcai'nin kılıç ustalığı keskin ve kararlıydı. O hızlı bir şekilde

Yuan Ya'yı yendi ve onu teslim olmaya zorladı.

Chu klanından üst üste üç galibiyet kalabalığın başını sallamasına neden oldu

anlaşma, sanki böyle olması gerekiyormuş gibi. Gerçekten de, Chu klanı hala

Brightmoon City'de baskın güç!

Sadece Chu Chuyan'ın kaşlarını çatması gittikçe sıkılaşıyordu. Zaferler

Chu klanı tarafından puanlanan puanlar, Yuan klanının zayıf yavrularına karşıydı,

Kural gereği savaşa katılmak zorunda kalan her gencin

ana şube Klanlar Turnuvasına katılmak zorundaydı. Bu nedenle,

Yuan klanı onları Wu'dan başka biriyle değiştiremedi

zümre.

Açıkçası en zayıfı en güçlüye karşı koymanın bir eşleşmesiydi ... Dir

bu bir tesadüf ya da ne...

Beklendiği gibi, en endişe verici durum yaşanmıştı. Altıncı turda,

Chu klanı bir kayıp yaşadı.

With this, the score was tied at 3:3!

For the seventh round, Chu Chuyan specially gave the Chu clan’s fighter,

Lan Likang, a pep talk to motivate him. If he were to lose the match, even if

Chu Chuyan were to win her match, it would still fall onto her little sister

and Zu An to determine the winning round. If so, the Chu clan would be

doomed.

Chu Chuyan carried fairly high prestige within the Chu clan. Almost all of

the juniors viewed her as their goddess. Having received her personal pep

talk, Lan Likang was all pumped up. His fighting prowess immediately

soared to 120%!

Unfortunately, the cultivator sent by the Yuan clan was a step stronger than

him, causing him to be overpowered in every single clash. In hopes of

meeting up to Chu Chuyan’s expectations, he gritted his teeth and

summoned his inner cosmos to grind down his enemy even at the expense

of getting injured himself. In the end, both he and his opponent tumbled

down the dueling ring together.

It was a draw!

Shocked gasps sounded from the crowd. It had never cut so close for the

two clans before, especially for the seventh round. It was truly a bloody

battle with both sides going all out against one another. The crowd was

completely overwhelmed by the tenacity of the fighters.

Even the powerhouses present could sense the tension in the air. They

perked up their attention to pay greater focus to the dueling ring. Otherwise,

if a casualty occurred under their watch, it would be a blow to their

reputation.

At this very moment, Chu Zhongtian, accompanied by one of the Chu

Estate’s physicians, was performing emergency treatment on the severely

injured Lan Likang. Despite his wounded state, Lan Likang had tears in his

eyes as he looked at Chu Chuyan with an ashamed look on his face. “I’m

sorry, first miss. I’ve let you down. I wasn’t able to win the match.”

Chu Chuyan replied gently, “His cultivation was higher than you. You have

already done well fighting him to a draw. Just focus on your recuperation

and don’t think about anything else. Leave the rest to us.”

It was time for her to get on the field now. Her enemy was the Yuan clan’s

Di Wu, a young man with a ghastly pale complexion.

Chapter 114: You're a Horrible

Person

“Elder Wu, be careful. Chu Chuyan is dubbed the number one prodigy of

the younger generation, a genius among geniuses. You mustn’t get

careless,” reminded Yuan Wendong.

He had set Wu Di against Chu Chuyan because the latter had always been

the Chu clan’s pride, a symbol of the Chu clan’s strength. If they could

defeat her in public, they could deal a huge blow to the Chu clan’s

reputation, and further the subsequent rise of the Yuan clan.

“Rest assured, I’m a rank stronger than her. It’ll be a walk in the park for

me to defeat her,” said Wu Di calmly.

Right now, all he was worried about was how he should win the battle

without revealing his cultivation. He studied the spectators who had turned

up for the duel. Governor Sang Hong won’t be a problem, but it’ll be hard

to pull wool over the eyes of Chu Zhongtian or Principal Jiang. If they

notice something, it could spell trouble.

In the opposite corner, Yue Shan was also advising Chu Chuyan. “First

miss, your opponent is someone we have never heard of before. Given the

circumstances, it’s safe to assume that he’ll be a tough opponent. You must

be careful.”

Chu Chuyan nodded calmly in response.

Yue Shan couldn’t help but chuckle softly. I guess I’m worrying too much.

How could the first miss possibly lose against a fellow junior?

As the fighters were preparing, Qin Wanru was deep in discussion with her

husband about the current state of affairs. “Hubby, even if Chuyan wins this

match, we’ll only be leading by 4:3, with two matches to go. Are we really

going to lose just like that?”

She had confidence in her older daughter, but the same couldn’t be said

about their two remaining fighters.

Chu Zhongtian could not hide his concern.

“The Yuan clan has already fielded all of their experts, so Huanzhao’s

opponent shouldn’t be too strong. Given the special attributes of the

Wailing Whip, she still stands a chance at winning,” he said, but his tone

was uncertain and devoid of confidence. He knew that his second daughter

was a wilful girl who spent little time on her cultivation.

As for Zu An’s duel, he had already dismissed it as a hopeless match.

Honestly, he found the situation incredibly bizarre. Even with the Wu clan’s

help, the Yuan clan should still have been no match for the Chu clan. How

could they have so many experts hidden away? This was truly puzzling.

…

As they fretted, Chu Chuyan descended gracefully into the dueling ring, her

footsteps light and soft. Her dress fluttered lightly as she stood serenely

before the crowd, her elegant presence drawing enthusiastic cheers.

“Young miss Chu, you have our support!”

“Young miss Chu sure is gorgeous. How lucky Zu An is to have her as his

wife!”

“What’s wrong with the guys? Why are they all acting like adolescent boys

meeting a girl for the first time?”

…

Shi Kun smiled upon hearing the cheers ringing from all corners of the

arena. As expected of a woman I have set my eyes on. Her popularity truly

knows no bounds. Only I am worthy of a woman as perfect as her!

The unwelcome image of Zu An rudely interrupted his thoughts. His smile

slipped, his face wrinkling in disgust. He felt like he had just eaten a fly.

Zu An, who had intended to watch the show quietly, was suddenly surprised

by a huge wave of Rage points. Once again, Chu Chuyan’s beauty had

managed to stoke the envy of the men, leading them to direct their

indignance toward him.

“Ahhh, this must be what it means to be outstanding! Even when I’m not

doing anything at all, the cash just continues to roll in!” exclaimed Zu An.

Chu Huanzhao’s interest piqued instantly. “Cash? Roll in? What cash?” She

tugged at Zu An’s sleeves, her voice full of excitement.

Zu An gave her a silent glance before shaking his head. Looks like this lass

has gotten hooked after the easy money she earned the last time.

“Nah, you heard wrongly.” In order to distract her, he quickly changed the

topic, “What’s your older sister’s cultivation rank?”

“She should be at pinnacle fifth rank, I think. I’m not too sure about the

details,” replied Chu Huanzhao.

Zu An was amused. “She’s your older sister though. You don’t know her

cultivation rank?”

Indignantly, Chu Huanzhao harrumphed, “Why would I care about that?”

The Yuan clan’s fighter chose this moment to step into the dueling ring.

Zu An resolved to watch this duel carefully. He had never seen his wife in

action before, and he was curious to know how far behind he was from the

most talented cultivator in his age group.

“My name is Di Wu. I’m looking forward to having a taste of young miss

Chu’s Snowflower Sword!” As he made his way forward, Wu Di marveled

at the beauty of the white-dressed woman before him.

Her eyes were as beautiful as the stars in the night sky, and her facial

features looked as if they had been carefully painted on by a master painter.

Wu Di felt flames stirring in the depths of his long-dormant heart.

Despair followed swiftly, crushing him. If he was still young and had just

reached the sixth rank, he would have surely done everything he could to

pursue her. But he was well into his middle years, and had no potential left

to develop. There was no way he would stand a chance with her anymore.

I wonder just what kind of man in the world would be worthy of a woman

as perfect as she is!

He thought about the intelligence he had received which detailed how Chu

First Miss had chosen a renowned wastrel in Brightmoon City as her

husband, and envy immediately gripped him. This is unfair! How can that

kind of fellow be worthy of her? If I’m not qualified to pursue her, how

could a man like him be wedded to this fairylike woman before me?!

You have successfully trolled Wu Di for +999 Rage!

Zu An had been calmly watching the show from the rest area when a

sudden inflow of Rage points shocked him. Huh, what’s wrong with this

Wu Di?

He quickly scanned the surroundings and caught the Yuan clan’s fighter in

the dueling ring glaring at him intently. He pondered for a moment. Wu Di,

Di Wu… Hm, interesting.

Just then, the official from the City Lord Estate declared the start of the

duel. Wu Di immediately turned his attention back to the beautiful woman

before him, his mind made up. Even if you’ll never be mine, I’ll make you

remember me for life. I shall make you suffer a tragic defeat today!

He drew his saber, and it was immediately sheathed in red flames. Behind

him, the vague avatar of a ferocious tiger could be seen. Waves of heat

rippled out into the surroundings, drawing wide-eyed astonishment from the

crowd.

“He’s actually a fifth rank cultivator! How did the Yuan clan find so many

experts?”

“On top of that, his elemental attribute is fire, which happens to be at odds

with Chu First Miss’ ice element!”

“I wonder who would curb who.”

“Fire can curb ice, but ice can curb fire too. In the end, it boils down to who

is stronger.”

…

Chu Chuyan calmly drew her sword, revealing a transparent blade tinged in

light blue, trailing white mist as it moved - a result of the blade’s extreme

cold condensing the water vapor surrounding it.

Zu An snorted to himself.

It’s no wonder why my wife’s personality is so cold - even her weapon is a

block of ice!

Hmm... Her personality is cold, she practices an ice-style cultivation

technique, and she brings that chunk of ice everywhere around with her…

Wouldn’t the coldness result in painful menstrual cramps?

He started to turn towards Chu Huanzhao, that very question on his lips, but

he immediately changed his mind. Wouldn’t I be treated as a pervert if I ask

her such a question?

With a furious roar, Wu Di raised his saber and charged forth with the

momentum of a ferocious tiger.

Zu An was awed by the sight. Woah, his attacks actually come with special

effects! I guess he’s not just a sidekick after all. I wonder if my wife will be

able to withstand his offense.

In response, Chu Chuyan slowly raised her sword. With a simple flick of

her wrist, she sent her sword piercing straight forth toward her enemy.

The tip of Chu Chuyan’s sword struck Wu Di’s blade with the sound of a

high-pitched bell, shrill and loud enough to set ears ringing. The ferocious

tiger avatar behind Wu Di immediately vanished without a trace, and a

terrifying shockwave rippled forth from the two of them.

Half of the spectators were blasted by a wave of intense heat, while the

other half shivered as if naked in the coldest winter.

The combatants only clashed for an instant before swiftly retreating,

creating some distance between them to recover. Wu Di stared at the

beautiful figure several meters away in astonishment. He could tell that her

ability to manipulate ki was above his. Is this the difference between me

and a true genius?

But no matter how prodigious you might be, you can’t erase away the

twenty years of experience I have more than you! You’re bound to lose this

battle!

Across from him, Chu Chuyan frowned. Her enemy’s ki reserves turned out

to be greater than she had expected. It looks like he’s the strongest fighter

from the Yuan clan, joining this tournament to specifically deal with me.

Neither let their thoughts affect their intensity. After the barest of breaks,

they swiftly engaged each other again. Their speed of movement blurred

their bodies into mere silhouettes. Chu Chuyan’s attacks were elegant but

deadly whereas Wu Di’s offense was forceful and direct.

It was a surprisingly even contest.

“That man is actually able to keep up with young miss Chu!”

“Does the Yuan clan have an expert of this caliber?”

…

Qin Wanru watched her daughter worriedly as she listened to the

whisperings of the crowd. “Hubby, what is that man’s background?”

Chu Zhongtian frowned deeply. “I don’t know, but something isn’t right

about him. Chuyan’s Snowflower Sword is embedded with a chilling aura

that affects the movement of her enemies, gradually slowing them down

and tilting the battle in her favor. Yet, Di Wu seems unfazed by her chilling

aura. This is truly weird.”

“Could it be that his fire cultivation technique is offsetting Chuyan’s

chilling aura?” asked Qin Wanru.

“It could be,” replied Chu Zhongtian as he continued assessing the

situation.

In the dueling ring, Wu Di and Chu Chuyan had again parted from one

another as they tried to regulate the agitated ki in their body.

Wu Di’s hands were cloaked in a layer of ice, but he dispelled it with a

surge of flame. His lips wore a fawning smile., “I’ve long heard of the

amazing prowess of Chu First Miss’ Snowflower Sword. It seems the

rumors aren’t exaggerated at all. It looks like I’ll have to get serious then.”

Beneath the dueling ring, Yuan Wendong frowned. Why is Elder Wu Di

speaking so much today? He’s usually proud and reticent; this is unlike him.

Zu An, however, had an answer to that question. “Hmph! That fellow must

have found my wife pretty, so he’s doing all sorts of things to capture her

attention. Tsk, that attention whore!”

Fortunately, Chu Chuyan was unfazed. True to the cold beauty she was, she

stood there quietly, her eyes perfectly composed.

Wu Di felt his heart racing yet again as he met her pristine gaze. What a

pity that fate has denied me such a fine woman! With a deep sigh, he

channeled his regrets into the duel.

Inferno Edge!

Wu Di leaped into the air, his saber pointed skyward. The flames cloaking

the saber intensified, forming asword of solid flame ten meters long.

“Holy shit! Even Jiumozhi’s Flame Blade isn’t as dashing as this!” Zu An

straightened upward, impressed by the spectacle. “If I could learn such a

cool technique in the future, I could easily win the fancy of any girl!” [1]

“I don’t see anyone falling for Di Wu even after he executed the technique

though,” replied Chu Huanzhao.

Zu An kindly explained, “That’s because he is fundamentally unappealing.

You need someone as good-looking as me to execute the technique in order

for it to work.”

Despite his off-hand tone, he was very worried for Chu Chuyan. He wasn’t

certain if she could cope with this technique. It would be a huge loss if she

were to even lose a few strands of her hair to this Wu Di!

In the ring, Chu Chuyan calmly swung her sword, and snowflakes began to

appear, growing more and more numerous. They encircled her in a swirling

column several meters wide, creating the image of a goddess summoning a

ferocious snowstorm.

The spectators were awestruck.

“Woah, that’s beautiful!”

“Beneath that beauty lies great danger. Just a single snowflake could turn

you into an ice pop.”

“Say, if young miss Chu is that cold, wouldn’t her husband freeze to death

just by hugging her?”

“What do you know? She might be cold on the surface, but I bet that she’s

steamy hot on the inside.”

“You’re such a horrible person.”

…

1. Jiumozhi is a character from Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils by Jin Yong.

Chapter 115: Wu Di, Your Mum Is

Calling You Back For Dinner!

Unlike normal snowflakes, those drifting around Chu Chuyan didn’t fall to

the ground and melt. Instead, they congregated together to form an ice lotus

that embraced her body,

Seeing this, Sang Hong nodded his head slightly and said, “I’ve long heard

of young miss Chu’s reputation as a prodigious cultivator, and it looks like

she’s as formidable as the rumors put her out to be. It’s incredible that she’s

able to manipulate her ki to such a degree.”

Behind him, Sang Qian was staring at Chu Chuyan with heated eyes. Zheng

Dan might be pretty too, but she’s still lacking compared to Chu Chuyan. If

I could have such a woman, I would wake up laughing even in the midst of

my sleep!

In the past, he dared not to even dream about it. However, ever since he

found out that Chu Chuyan had chosen Zu An, who was inferior to him in

every way, as her husband, he suddenly felt that the fairy wasn’t as far away

as he initially thought.

His thoughts were further affirmed after learning of his father’s plans. Once

the Chu clan fell apart, she would no longer be the lofty daughter of a duke

anymore. Perhaps, he might just stand a chance.

The only troublesome part was that Shi Kun seemed to be interested in her

too…

Sang Hong currently had no idea what his son was thinking of. He turned to

Jiang Luofu and began chatting with her, “It must be thanks to Principal

Jiang’s guidance that young miss Chu is able to achieve such great

accomplishments at her young age.”

While he was trying his best to keep himself in check, he still couldn’t stop

his eyes from drifting off to her legs. Her legs were exquisitely long and

shapely, such that he wouldn’t harbor any doubts if someone were to tell

him it was the work of heaven. On top of that, she was wearing a pair of

stockings that vaguely veiled her legs, bringing about a feeling of secrecy.

This woman is truly a succubus!

Jiang Luofu smiled in response, “Chu Chuyan’s achievements are mainly

built upon her high aptitude and intelligence. All we’ve done is just to guide

her a little.”

“Principal Jiang is too humble.” Sang Hong didn’t think that he was a

lustful man, but the woman beside him was simply too beautiful. Even with

his level of self-control, he couldn’t stop himself from sneaking glances at

her.

Back onto the dueling ring, Wu Di had finished charging up his attack. With

the ten meters long inferno blade in his hands, he pulled it down with

incredible momentum, smashing heavily down upon the ice lotus.

Fire and ice were nemeses to one another. Upon encounter, the outermost

flower petals immediately melted before the flames, creating a pathway for

the inferno blade to strike all the way toward the center of the lotus, where

Chu Chuyan stood.

“Young miss Chu, be careful!”

“Fairy Chu, be careful!”

…

Chu Chuyan was simply too pretty that even though the crowd knew that

they had no business in the duel, they still couldn’t help but shout out

warnings when they saw that she was in danger.

Zu An got angry at how they were butting into his wife’s business. Hey,

even I am not shouting here, so what are all of you panicking for?

It was displeasing to him to know that so many men were fantasizing about

his wife, and whenever he was displeased, he was determined to make

others displeased as well. So, he stood up and began shouting, “Go, honey!

Go, honey! Go, honey!”

He was shouting so loud that it almost seemed as if he was afraid that others

wouldn’t know that the woman on the stage was his wife.

And just as he had expected, as soon as he started shouting, countless

murderous gazes turned his way.

“Is that man Chu First Miss’ husband? Hah, he looks nothing special at

all!”

“Nothing special? He’s a renowned wastrel in the city!”

“How can the world be so unfair as to have a man like him marry my

goddess? This is ridiculous!”

“Shit! My good mood is gone just by seeing his face!”

…

By the sides of the dueling ring, Shi Kun clenched his hands so tightly

together that he broke the handle of his chair. He had already thought of

Chu Chuyan as his private possession, so he couldn’t stand seeing another

man calling her ‘honey’. It left him feeling as if he was being cuckolded.

“Shameless! He’s way too shameless!”

Ji Dengtu, who was fidgeting amidst the crowd to take advantage of those

married women around him, shook his head.

“I need to find an opportunity to ask him about the continuation of the story.

Did that Wang character change in the end? Huh? Why am I so into that

Wang character? Did I accidentally put myself in his shoes? Pui pui pui!”

…

Looking at the huge wave of Rage points coming into his system, Zu An

was overjoyed. I never knew having a beautiful wife is something so happy.

Aiyoo, it’s a happiness that none of you will ever be able to experience.

Hahahaha!

Chu Chuyan hadn’t shown the slightest fluctuation in emotions despite

having fought Wu Di for so long, but Zu An’s shouting actually caused her

fair cheeks to flush for a brief moment.

Noticing the coy look on her face, Wu Di flew into a state of rage. You

didn’t react to anything I said earlier, but your face is reddening right now

to him? On top of that, you dare to be distracted in the midst of a battle with

me?!

His overflowing anger caused the already massive inferno blade to grow

even larger, causing it to push even deeper down on the ice lotus,

threatening to sever it into two.

The crowd gasped at the sight, thinking that Chu Chuyan was in a dire

position.

However, Wu Di was starting to frown. He realized that his inferno blade

was swiftly slowing down.

Chu Chuyan stood at the center of the ice lotus, gazing at the inferno blade

above her head without a sliver of emotions in her eyes. Snowflakes were

still drifting around her. Just like that, the clash between the two of them

came to a standstill.

“Look!” Someone sharply noticed an anomaly and exclaimed.

The crowd quickly turned their eyes over, and they saw that the flames on

the inferno blade had stopped flickering. Instead, a layer of white mist had

started forming on the surface of the saber.

The inferno saber was turning into ice at a visible pace, and soon, even Wu

Di would be turned into an ice sculpture too.

Zu An gulped at the sight. My wife is actually this formidable… What if

she decides to get violent with me one day? Wouldn’t I be totally helpless

before her? No, this won’t do. I need to quickly grow stronger, or else she

might just turn me into an ice sculpture one day!

“Even his ki is being frozen?” Some of the juniors spectating the match

were stunned, though it was understandable as even the powerhouses

gathered around were fazed by what they were witnessing.

“As expected of a woman I’ve chosen!” A triumphant smile emerged on Shi

Kun’s face, as if Chu Chuyan’s feat had brought him honor.

On the other hand, both the complexions of those from the Wu clan and

Yuan clan darkened. The presence of such a talented cultivator in the Chu

clan didn’t bode well for them.

City Lord Xie Yi sighed deeply, thinking that it was a pity that rejected a

marriage of alliance from King Qi’s faction back then.

Meanwhile, a glint flashed across Sang Hong’s eyes. It’s fortunate that Chu

Chuyan is a woman. Otherwise, if Chu Zhongtian had such a formidable

son, my plans would surely fall into shambles.

Everyone was certain that Chu Chuyan would emerge victorious in this duel

at this point. Even Chu Chuyan herself had spoken up to say, “It’s over..

Hm?”

She was planning to retract her ki to free her opponent, but she suddenly

sensed that something was amiss. The ice sculpture above her suddenly

began cracking before dissipated amidst white mist. Wu Di fell back down

to the ground with a shimmering layer of light around him like a barrier.

“Sixth rank!”

Everyone present was stunned. Elemental barrier was an ability that only

cultivators that reached the sixth rank could utilize. It could guard against

most lower-level elemental attacks.

“How could they possibly have a sixth rank cultivator?” Qin Wanru stood

up with a look of disbelief on her face.

Chu Zhongtian also shot a sharp look at the Wu clan and said, “Sunspring

Duke, what do you mean by this?”

Naturally, he was aware that the Yuan clan definitely didn’t have the

resources or any offspring talented enough to reach the sixth rank, so the

person on the field right now had to come from the Wu clan.

“Brightmoon Duke, I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re saying. It’s a

duel between the Chu clan and Yuan clan, why are you asking me about it?”

asked Wu Wei with a smile.

Chu Zhongtian harrumphed coldly. “Both of us know very well what’s

going on here.”

“Isn’t it just a sixth rank cultivator? What are you making such a big fuss

about? You’re making it sound like no sixth rank cultivator is allowed in the

Clans Tournament. Lord Governor, is there anything wrong with what I’ve

said?”

“Indeed, there isn’t such a rule.” Sang Hong nodded

Chu Zhongtian frowned.

There indeed isn’t such a rule, but this is a tournament between the juniors

of both clans. Even our talented Chuyan is only at the fifth rank, so how

could the Yuan clan have any sixth rank cultivator!

Wu Wei burst into laughter. “Brightmoon Duke, your daughter isn’t the

only prodigy in the world. The circumstances are already very clear now.

Why don’t you have your young miss admit defeat? It would be horrible if

she got hurt in the midst of the battle, no?”

It was a common agreement amongst cultivators that there was a huge gap

between fifth rank and sixth rank cultivators. After all, the most prided

elemental ability of fifth rank cultivators could be easily averted by the

elemental barrier of sixth rank cultivators. There was no way Chu Chuyan

could stand a chance against Di Wu like that.

Chu Zhongtian looked at his daughter hesitantly for a moment before

opening his mouth to say something. However, before he could speak up,

Chu Chuyan’s cold voice suddenly sounded from the dueling ring, “The

fight isn’t over yet.”

Even Shi Kun couldn’t help but speak up, “Young miss Chu, it’s common

knowledge that there’s a huge gap between fifth rank and sixth rank

cultivators. Please don’t force yourself to fight on. Even if you admit defeat

here, it won’t sully your reputation.”

He was worried that scars would be left on Chu Chuyan’s perfect body if

she were to force herself to fight against a more powerful cultivator. He

wouldn’t be able to accept it if she were to get disfigured due to this.

However, Chu Chuyan simply replied nonchalantly, “Thank you for your

concern, young master Shi, but I know what I’m doing.”

The patriarch of the Yuan clan, Yuan Zhengchu, burst into laughter, saying,

“Since that’s teh case, Di Wu, you should continue the fight with young

miss Chu. Make sure not to harm her, alright?”

Wu Di smiled in response. “That’s a given.”

Hearing that his daughter was intending to continue the duel, Chu

Zhongtian worriedly sent a ki transmission to her, saying, “Just admit defeat

if you find anything amiss. Don’t put your life at stake for this.”

Chu Chuyan nodded in response before eyeing Wu Di calmly.

Wu Di chuckled softly and said, “Young miss Chu, you’re indeed a prodigy,

but there’s a rank of difference between the two of us. Your Snowflower

Sword poses no threat to me at all. It doesn’t serve any purpose for you to

continue the fight.”

For the first time since the start of the battle, Chu Chuyan finally responded

to his words, “There’s nothing absolute in the world.”

Right after saying those words, her body suddenly blurred as a cold glint

flashed from the sword in her hands. She swiftly directed a barrage of

attacks toward him from all angles.

Wu Di immediately understood her intentions.

She knows that she can’t hurt me with elemental attacks, so she decided to

use her swordsmanship to defeat me. However, that’s too naive. Have you

forgotten that I’m still able to use my elemental ability here?

He stomped his foot on the ground, and two fire shackles materialized on

the ground. Like agile snakes, the shackles darted straight for Chu Chuyan’s

legs. However, just as the shackles were about to lock onto their target, he

suddenly hesitated.

Wouldn’t it be a huge waste if I leave a burn scar on the legs of a fairy?

However, his face immediately warped in horror right after. He realized that

his shackles had only locked down on a mere silhouette, and he hurriedly

took on a defensive position. As expected, Chu Chuyan appeared behind

him in the next instant.

The two of them ended up trading several blows with one another.

Wu Di wiped off the cold sweat from his forehead. Is this the difference

between me and a true prodigy? Despite her being an entire rank weaker

than me, I’m still having difficulties trying to cope against her. If we were

of the same rank, wouldn’t I have already lost by now?

At this point, he knew he couldn’t afford to hold back anymore. He

immediately gathered his full attention to deal with Chu Chuyan.

As a result, the pressure on Chu Chuyan suddenly increased greatly. She

had to deal with his saber and flames simultaneously, such that she ended

up having many close shaves.

Shi Kun straightened his back as he glared at Wu Di cold. If you dare leave

behind any scars on my woman, I’ll make you suffer a fate worse than

death!

“Game’s over, young miss Chu!”

Afraid that any complications would occur if the battle dragged on, Wu Di

knew he had to end the battle as soon as possible. He found a perfect

opening to morph the saber in his hand into a thirty meters long sword of

inferno to hack down on Chu Chuyan. Be it in terms of size or momentum,

it was far stronger than the earlier attack he launched. Without a doubt, this

was a prowess far beyond what a fifth rank cultivator could cope with.

Even Chu Zhongtian stood up at this moment, ready to step in to save his

daughter if it was required. Needless to say, the safety of his daughter took

precedence over a duel.

It was then that a teasing voice suddenly sounded, “Wu Di, your mum is

calling you back for dinner!”

Chapter 116: Why Does No One

Believe Me?

The crowd was baffled by the sudden shout, unable to comprehend what

was going on.

On the dueling ring, however, Wu Di’s body shuddered. What’s going on?

Why does someone know my real name?

One must know that a middle-aged man like him wasn’t qualified to

participate in this Clans Tournament. For that reason, he wore the mask

made by a runemaster to disguise himself as a youth.

There were so many eyes looking at him right now. If his identity were to

be revealed right here, not even Governor Sang Hong or the Sunspring

Duke would be able to cover him. There was no way the Brightmoon Duke

would let this matter go easily. On top of that, for foiling the plans of the

Wu clan and Yuan clan, he would surely be punished harshly when he

returned.

Did something happen to my mask? Wu Di subconsciously reached out to

touch his face.

This brief moment of hesitation caused his attacks to pause for a brief

moment. Chu Chuyan’s body was already cloaked in a layer of blue snow,

enhancing her movement speed greatly. Her body blurred into a silhouette

and pierced right through Wu Di’s sword of inferno, only to stop right

before his throat.

“You’ve lost!” Chu Chuyan looked at Wu Di with clear eyes as she said

calmly.

Wu Di was astonished. While his concentration did wander for an instant, it

should have been impossible for Chu Chuyan to pierce through his sword of

inferno and ki armor. Yet, all of his defenses were shredded in the blink of

an eye.

What’s going on? Is her cultivation not only at the fifth rank? But how

could that be possible?!

At this moment, Chu Chuyan’s face had started to turn unnaturally red. In

order to gather sufficient burst power to pierce through Wu Di’s defenses,

she had to utilize a forbidden art, resulting in her sustaining severe internal

injuries.

She glanced down the stage, only to see Zu An looking at her with a smile.

If not for his shout distracting Di Wu earlier, I might have already… Was it

calculated, or was it just a coincidence?

The official from the City Lord Estate declared, “The victor of the seventh

round is Chu Chuyan!”

“Objection!” After seeking affirmation from Wu Wei and his father, Yuan

Wendogn leaped onto the dueling ring, pointed at Zu An, and said, “The

Chu clan has cheated in the fight. Zu An’s sudden shout affected the

performance of our fighter!”

How could the Wu clan and Yuan clan not be furious? One must know that

Wu Di was their greatest trump card in this Clans Tournament! They had

even bore the risk of disguising him so as to have him defeat the pride of

the Chu clan, crushing their morale once and for all. Yet, it was all foiled

due to the interference of a brat.

The powerhouses spectating the duel had slight frowns on their foreheads.

They were busy contemplating the situation that they weren’t able to give

their judgment right away.

So, Zu An made use of this opportunity to speak up, “Oh? I’m afraid I’m

having difficulties understanding what you’re driving at. I simply exclaimed

aloud because I’m hungry, and yet it affected your fighter’s performance? I

must say, is this the level of concentration a sixth rank cultivator has?”

Loud cheerings echde from the spectators. Clearly, most of the crowd was

more supportive of the beautiful Chu Chuyan. They felt that the reasons the

Yuan clan came up with were too forced.

Zu An’s argument agitated Yuan Wendong as he argued furiously, “You

weren’t just exclaiming casually. You clearly shouted Wu Di…”

The moment those words poured out of his mouth, Yuan Wendong’s heart

skipped a beat. He knew he had screwed up.

Zu An didn’t hesitate to capitalize on Yuan Wendong’s mistake. ”Yes, I’m

pretty sure I shouted ‘Wu Di, your mum is calling you back for dinner’, not

‘Di Wu’. I don’t understand why he would react to those words. Or does

this mean to say that his true name isn’t Di Wu but Wu Di?”

“A load of rubbish!” The flustered Yuan Wendong roared in rebuttal. How

could Zu An know Wu Di’s true identity? This doesn’t make sense!

You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for +868 Rage!

Di Wu? Wu Di?

Chu Zhongtian silently mumbled those words under his breath when a

thought flashed across his mind. “I heard that there’s a member of the Wu

clan named Wu Di, and he’s a sixth rank cultivator too. It just so happens

that he cultivates a flame element cultivation technique too.”

Chu Chuyan immediately caught his drift. She immediately reached for Wu

Di’s face, ready to claw out any mask he had on.

It was then that Wu Wei moved and landed right on the dueling ring. Chu

Chuyan felt a powerful force rushing up her sword, forcing her back.

Fortunately, Chu Zhongtian appeared at this moment and neutralized the

force jolting her before exchanging palm strokes with Wu Wei.

Bam!

A powerful force ravaged the surroundings, leaving the spectating crowd

tumbling to the ground. A huge cloud of dust was stirred into the air.

When the dust finally settled down once more, the dueling ring was already

completely cracked, looking as if it was on the verge of crumbling at any

moment.

Zu An was alarmed to see this. It’s said that eighth rank cultivators are able

to tap into the natural energy of the world. Is this the prowess they wield?

He was still feeling triumphant that he had turned into a little superman, but

compared to the prowess of these top-level experts, his strength seemed

nothing much in comparison.

“Stinky brother-in-law! You took advantage of me again!” Chu Huanzhao

shoved the man crushing down on her body away before glaring at him

angrily.

Zu An turned over with a look of indignance on his face. “I only stood in

front of you because I was afraid that you would get injured. How can that

be considered as taking advantage of you?”

Chu Huanzhao harrumphed in response. “I’m already a third rank

cultivator, what about you? Why would I possibly need a weakling like you

to shield me? You’re obviously taking advantage of me here!”

Zu An laughed awkwardly in response. He misjudged the level of threat

from the earlier shockwave. Somehow, he thought that Chu Huanzhao was

far weaker than he was, so he tried to shield her under his body. However, it

would be hard for him to explain this to her at the moment.

Chu Huanzhao’s face reddened as she compromised, “Alright alright, I

know that you’re doing this for me. However, you shouldn’t be so reckless

in the future. I’m the one who should be protecting you!”

Seeing that Chu Huanzhao was no longer angry anymore, Zu An laughed it

off and said, “I would love nothing more than that. Oh? I see some dust on

your chest area. Come, let me pat it off for you.”

“Scram!” Chu Huanzhao spat at him.

Meanwhile, on the dueling ring, Chu Zhongtian glared at the opposite Wu

Wei with livid eyes as he questioned, “Wu Wei, what do you mean by this?”

“Since the victor has been decided, why bother pushing this matter on?” Wu

Wei shielded Wu Di behind him as he spoke calmly. That Yuan Wendong

sure is a brainless dolt! He nearly gave Wu Di’s identity away earlier on!

Sang Hong also stepped onto the dueling ring to stand between the two of

them. “Indeed. Since the victor has been decided, there’s no reason to sully

the harmony here. It would only reflect badly on the royal court if two

dukes of our dynasty fight it out in public like this.”

Chu Zhongtian’s face darkened further. He could tell that Sang Hong was

protecting the Wu clan here.

It was then that City Lord Xie Yi interjected too. “Yuan Zhengchu, do you

all admit defeat for this match?”

Yuan Zhengchu knew better than to argue over the win and loss of this

match at a time like this. He quickly nodded and said, “Yes, we admit defeat

for this match.”

Even though they were currently lagging behind 3:4, the remaining two

matches were sure wins for them. There was no need for them to fuss too

much about it over here.

Xie Yi nodded with a smile and said, “That’s good. Let’s move on to the

next round then. Principal Jiang, what are your thoughts?”

As someone from King Qi’s faction, he was more than happy to see the

royal court cornering the Chu clan. It would be best if the Chu clan was

utterly cornered and left with no choice but to join their faction.

Hmph, you wish to steer clear of everything and survive till the end? How

could there be something that convenient?

Jiang Luofu hesitated for a brief moment before nodding in agreement, “I

have no objections here.”

With her wits, she could easily see the schemes that were being played by

the Wu clan and Yuan clan. However, the academy had never gotten itself

involved in political strife, and strictly speaking, they were also a subsidiary

of the royal court too. It made no sense for her to oppose Sang Hong

publicly.

Hearing her words, Wu Wei said with a smile, “Brightmoon Duke, are you

going to question the verdict of our three judges?”

Chu Zhongtian was reluctant to let this matter rest, but he felt utterly

helpless here. It was as if everyone here was down to get them. For the first

time, he started wondering if he had erred in his decision. However, the Chu

clan had survived throughout the generations by maintaining a neutral

stance. With this in mind, he decided to grit his teeth and persevere.

“Fine, let’s move on to the next round then!”

It was a huge loss for the Chu clan to lose the arms market, but it was not a

crippling blow to them. The Chu clan was more reliant on the salt trade in

the end.

Furthermore, they had a lot of connections and supply routes that they had

built up over the years. It was not something that the Yuan clan could hope

to subvert within a short period of time.

“Father, don’t be too pessimistic. It’s not certain that Huanzhao might lose.

Even if she fights to a draw, we’ll still stand a chance.”

Chu Chuyan forced herself to maintain her poise despite feeling a surge of

blood gushing up her throat. Taking a deep breath, she consoled her father

silently.

Currently, the Chu clan was leading by 4:3. The best-case scenario was for

Chu Huanzhao to win the battle, but even if she fought it down to a draw,

the Chu clan would still stand a chance. If the eventual result was a tie, they

would determine the final winner through having each side elect a fighter

onto the dueling ring. If it came down to that, it would be the Chu clan’s

victory.

Of course, both Chu Chuyan and Chu Zhongtian were treating Zu An’s

match to already be a loss.

“You’re right!” Chu Zhongtian perked up his spirit. He walked over to Chu

Huanzhao’s side and began giving her some pointers, hoping that this last

minute cramming could do some good.

Chu Huanzhao was still in a daze at the moment. She never thought that she

would carry the fate of the Chu clan on her shoulders. Feeling deeply

unconfident, she said, “I think my opponent is likely to have a higher

cultivation rank than me.”

“He’s stronger than you, but it’s a gap that can be bridged. As long as you

use the ability of your Wailing Whip well, you would still stand a good

chance.”

Zu An also nodded in agreement. He had tasted the prowess of Chu

Huanzhao’s whip himself. The electrifying sensation as the whip struck

down on my body… Ah, it’s an experience never to be forgotten.

Chu Huanzhao was still panicking. “But… what if I fail to hit the enemy?

Big sister, you also know the limitations of my strength! Even though I’ve

been abusing my strength to bully Zu An, still, to fight on a dueling ring

is…”

She was starting to regret just how she had idled her time away. She should

have paid more focus to her training.

On the other hand, Zu An was left utterly speechless as well. Why do

arrows still fly my way even when I’m not doing or saying anything at al?!

Qin Wanru grabbed her hand and said grimly, “Huanzhao, this battle

concerns the future of the Chu clan. No matter what, you must try your

best!”

Due to how serious the matter was, her voice was also much sterner than

usual.

Chu Huanzhao vehemently nodded her head. Her tenacity had been spurred

by those words. She bit her lips a little anxiously as she replied firmly, “Yes,

I’ll definitely win the match. I won’t let father or mother down.”

Zu An was a little shocked to see the determined look on Chu Huanzhao’s

face. Wait a moment, will this lass try to desperately hold on during the

fight later on? This matter concerns the Chu clan’s future, so Chu Zhongtian

and Qin Wanru won’t intervene until the very final moment. What if she

gets afflicted with some irrecoverable injuries or traumas?

Seeing the humongous amount of pressure being heaped on Chu Huanzhao,

Zu An stepped forward and said, “Huanzhao, don’t feel too pressured here.

If you feel like things are going awry, just admit defeat. Don’t worry, I’m

here.”

“No one will think of you as mute if you don’t speak!” Qin Wanru raged at

Zu An. It wasn’t easy for her to spur her younger daughter’s motivation, but

this fellow was actually trying to undo her efforts!

You have successfully trolled Qin Wanru for +404 Rage!

Chu Zhongtian also frowned as well. “Zu An, it’s a good thing for you if

Huanzhao wins too. You don’t stand much of a chance against Yuan

Wendong.”

Zu An was utterly frustrated by the lack of trust in him. “But I really do

think that I can win the match.”

Chapter 117: Childhood Trauma

“I’ve told you many times that you have to kick off your bad habit of

boasting!” Qin Wanru was already feeling stressed from worrying about the

future of the Chu clan, and Zu An’s words seemed to be further fueling her

fury. Were it not for the fact that they were in public, she would have really

lashed out at him. “Now isn’t the time for you to be running your mouth.

I’ll deal with you once we get back!”

You have succesfully trolled Qin Wanru for +999 Rage!

After saying her piece, she pulled Chu Huanzhao away. Chu Zhongtian also

looked a little displeased too, but he chose not to say anything. Instead, he

left with Qin Wanru to finish up the last minute cramming.

Zu An stared at them with an incredulous look on his face.

Wow, what’s wrong with this world? Everyone doesn’t hesitate to believe

my lies, but when I speak of the truth, everyone starts doubting me. What a

tough life I lead!

Also, father-in-law, you aren’t doing your part here. Look at how fiery-

tempered Qin Wanru is. You have to work harder to vent her inner flames at

night, or else the one to suffer is me!

It was then that Chu Chuyan’s voice sounded in his ears. “I know that

you’re dissatisfied with your current circumstances, and you wish to do

something to prove yourself before my father and mother. However, you

really need not do this. It’s wiser to work within your limits instead. What

you’re doing now will only have adverse effects.”

Chu Chuyan’s words were subtle, but the meaning behind what she was

driving at was pretty clear. She also thought that Zu An was boasting over

here.

“Orh.” Zu An couldn’t be bothered to explain anymore. It was not as if

anyone would believe him anyway.

“How did you know that person is called Wu Di?” asked Chu Chuyan.

“I guessed,” replied Zu An with a shrug.

“Guessed?” Chu Chuyan frowned, unsatisfied with the answer Zu An was

providing.

“Yeap. I thought that the name ‘Di Wu’ sounds pretty weird, and

considering the fact that the Wu clan is backing the Yuan clan, I wondered

if his real name might just be Wu Di. So, I gave it a try, and it was

unexpectedly a hit.” Zu An couldn’t possibly reveal his system to her, so he

could only come up with an excuse.

To his surprise, Chu Chuyan nodded in response. “I see. It was a

coincidence, but you really did me and the Chu clan a huge favor this time

around.”

Zu An already had no inner energy left to retort anymore. See! You

believed my lies so easily, yet you keep doubting me when I’m saying the

truth.

“Cough cough~” Chu Chuyan suddenly began coughing, and she quickly

took out a handkerchief to cover her mouth.

Zu An sharply noticed a red patch on her handkerchief, and he froze in

place. “You’re injured?”

Chu Chuyan grabbed his arm to stop him from speaking on. “I’m fine. It’s

just a minor injury, so don’t say anything about it.”

Zu An noticed that Chu Chuyan’s face was three shades paler than usual,

which was a clear indication that her injuries were not as light as she was

putting it out to be. In a fit of rage, he cursed, “How dare the Yuan clan and

Wu clan bully my wife? Tsk! I’ll teach them a lesson later on!”

“…” Chu Chuyan.

At this juncture, she already didn’t know what she could say to Zu An

anymore. So, she decided to turn her attention toward the stage to see how

her younger sister was faring.

Chu Huanzhao’s opponent was Yuan Wenji, Yuan Wendong’s cousin. While

his cultivation was beneath that of Yuan Wendong, he was still around mid

third rank. Theoretically speaking, Chu Huanzhao didn’t stand much of a

chance in this battle, but her possession of the Wailing Whip and Chu

Zhongtian’s pointers evened things out a little. As long as she played her

cards well, there was a fair chance she could defeat her enemy.

On the opposite side, things looked a little tense over at the Yuan clan too.

They thought that they could clinch a decisive advantage in the first eight

matches, so even if they lost this match, it still shouldn’t have affected the

conclusion.

Yet, who could have thought that a mishap would occur on Wu Di’s side?

Despite being a sixth rank cultivator, he actually lost to a mere fifth rank

cultivator. He really should change his name to Useless instead!

Due to Wu Di’s loss, the Yuan clan was currently lagging behind 3:4, which

made this match of critical importance. They had to win this round in order

to be able to proceed on to the next round.

Yuan Wendong took a look at Zu An and sneered coldly. You have been

hiding their true prowes for so long, likely in hopes of proving your worth

in this tournament. But what a pity, you bumped into me instead! Later on,

I’d show everyone that you’re nothing more than a good-for-nothing. You’ll

regret provoking me time and time again!

Looking at the two fighters on the dueling ring, the crowd began discussing

amongst themselves.

“Woah, I didn’t expect Chu Second Miss to be this pretty.”

“Of course! Given how pretty the older sister is, how could the younger

sister fare too badly?”

“I heard that Chu Second Miss is in the ninth place of Brightmoon

Academy’s Sweetheart Ranking!”

“I think she’s just lagging behind due to her young age. Give it a few years,

and she’ll surely blossom like a beautiful flower.”

“I think she’s fine as she is at the moment. It would be better if she could be

younger.”

“… Get away from us. We don’t hang out with fiends like you!”

…

Hearing the discussions coming from the crowd, Yuan Wenji shook his head

and sneered coldly. Only he knew best just what kind of terrifying demon

was concealed behind her beautiful exterior.

His thoughts drifted back to the times when he was bullied by her, be it

having his pocket money snatched, getting beaten up by her, having his

pants pulled down right before the entire class… He could still remember

how she stood proudly before him, laughing evilly like a true demon. That

had made him jolt awake from his nightmares far more than once.

In the past, he dared not to exact vengeance on her out of fear of her

position as the daughter of a duke, but with the Wu clan’s backing now, he

no longer had any fear. He could make full use of his dueling ring to return

everything he had suffered in the past to her.

“Chu Second Miss, we meet one another again,” said Yuan Wenji with a

gleeful smile.

He had intentionally hidden from Chu Huanzhao all these years while

enduring arduous training in hopes of exacting vengeance one day. It was

just a pity that his limited aptitude had decreed a cap on his future

accomplishments. Nevertheless, the fruits of his labor should be more than

enough to deal with her.

“Who are you?” asked Chu Huanzhao.

Yuan Wenji choked on his breath for a moment there before turning red in

anger. This woman actually doesn’t remember me anymore! After bullying

so much when I was younger, she actually forgot all about me!

He wanted to speak it out and make her remember, but his logical mind

eventually persuaded him otherwise. He was going to exact vengeance later

on anyway, and it would be dangerous if others were to catch him in the act.

To be honest, nothing would happen even if he revealed it. Chu Huanzhao

had bullied far too many people when she was younger that she could

hardly count them anymore…

Perplexed by the lack of response, Chu Huanzhao was going to probe on

when her father’s voice sounded in her ears. She took a deep breath and

calmed herself down. Holding the Wailing Whip tightly in her hands, as

soon as the official announced the commencement of the duel, she flicked

her wrist to strike down on Yuan Wenji’s body.

Seeing this, Chu Chuyan nodded in approval. Her younger sister might be

lacking in cultivation, but her skills with the Wailing Whip was the real

deal… She had been using it well bullying others over the years, after all.

However, Yuan Wenji was prepared for her attack. He dodged the whip with

a sideward row before quickly charging forward. Against a long-ranged

weapon like the whip, the wisest decision was for him to engage her in a

close-range battle.

Chu Zhongtian had already warned her about this in advance, so she slowly

retreated to maintain the distance between them while flicking her whip to

force Yuan Wenji to remain at bay.

On the other hand, Yuan Wenji tried his best to approach her while dodging

the whips. However, he eventually slipped up and got struck on his arm.

“ARGH!”

The sheer pain had Yuan Wendong jolting in horror. It was really not

something a human could endure. It felt as if someone had taken a

screwdriver to hammer his bones.

The crowd amidst the Chu clan was delighted to see that the Wailing Whip

was working its wonders. As long as she could get a few more hits in, the

sheer amount of pain should be enough to make Yuan Wenji pass out.

At her father’s reminder, Chu Huanzhao continued to flick her wrist to

pressure Yuan Wenji.

“Did you think that I’m unprepared?” However, Yuan Wenji suddenly

retrieved a shield from behind his back. It wasn’t too big initially, but for

some reason, it suddenly expanded to become big enough to shield his

entire body.

Chu Zhongtian immediately straightened his back. “It’s no wonder why the

arms produced by the Yuan clan suddenly improved so drastically. They

have indeed managed to find a formidable runemaster to back them up!”

The shield was indubitably the work of a runemaster, wielding the ability to

expand and contract at will.

In an instant, the tables were turned on Chu Huanzhao. Her whip was

formidable, but Yuan Wenji was able to easily guard himself with the

shield. Step by step, he slowly shortened the gap between them, rendering

him helpless.

Qin Wanru clutched her husband’s arm and said, “He seems to be prepared

in advance.”

Chu Zhongtian nodded with an awful look on his face. “Indeed. There’s no

doubt that there’s a spy in our Chu clan now. They revealed our sequencing

to the enemy; that’s why they are able to curb us to this degree. They even

thought of how to deal with Huanzhao’s Wailing Whip in advance.”

“Who in the world is it?!” Qin Wanru turned to look at their own people,

but with doubt lingering in her eyes, everyone looked like a possible spy to

her.

“We’ll slowly look into it once we get back.” Chu Zhongtian closed his

eyes and sighed deeply. “We’re doomed today. However, this works fine

too. At least we know the threats lurking by our side, so we can guard

against them in the future.”

“But we’re paying too great a price for that!” Qin Wanru knew just how

important the arms market was, as well as the implication of losing it.

“Should we get Huanzhao to hold on a little longer? There might just be

some hope.”

Chu Zhongtian hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he decided to go

along with his wife’s wishes. He didn’t want to lose the arms market which

the Chu clan had dominated for centuries either.

Meanwhile, on the dueling ring, Yuan Wenji had already pulled close to

Chu Huanzhao. A glint flashed across his eyes as he suddenly rolled

forward and swiftly got into extremely close range to Chu Huanzhao.

Chu Huanzhao was horrified. She quickly hurled her fist forward in

retaliation, but her cultivation was beneath that of Yuan Wenji, and her

other hand was still holding onto the Wailing Whip. Given such

disadvantages, how could she hold her own against him?

Yuan Wenji grabbed her left hand and dislocated her wrist, leaving Chu

Huanzhao crying in horror.

Alarmed, Chu Zhongtian immediately stood up and declared, “We admit

defeat this round!”

However, even while he was saying those words, Yuan Wenji gathered his

strength toward his fist, and channeling his accumulation of rage over the

years, he struck heavily on her abdomen.

Pu!

With a spurt of blood, Chu Huanzhao was sent flying.

Chu Zhongtian quickly rushed forward to catch his daughter before

hurriedly dealing with her injuries. He had no spare attention to care about

anything more given the circumstances.

Those from the Chu clan quickly crowded around Chu Huanzhao, leaving

Zu An no space to squeeze in. So, he turned around to glare at Yuan Wenji

coldly, saying, “We’ve already admitted defeat, so why did you still deal

such a vicious blow?”

Under his guilty conscience, Yuan Wenji was overwhelmed by Zu An’s

imposing disposition for a brief moment and ended up stuttering.

It was then that Yuan Wendong stood forward to speak up, “How could an

ordinary human like you know about the battles between cultivators?

There’s only a fine line between victory and loss in a fight, and Wenji has

witnessed Chu First Miss’ glorious splendor in defeating a sixth rank

cultivator earlier. Who knows? Chu Second Miss might just have other

means to exert in the situation back then. Who could have known that Chu

Second Miss turns out to be so lacking instead? Haa, she really should learn

more from her older sister and practice more.”

Yaun Wenji also quickly snapped out of it and said, “Indeed! I was simply

too immersed in the fight earlier that I didn’t hear the Brightmoon Duke’s

words!”

“You didn’t hear my words?” Chu Zhongtian suddenly bellowed furiously.

He had already confirmed that his younger daughter was in no danger, so he

raised his head to look at the man still standing on the dueling ring. “Are

you saying that the words spoken by an eighth rank cultivator are too soft

for the likes of you to hear?”

A terrifying aura suddenly weighed down on the dueling ring, leaving Yuan

Wenji gulping in horror. His body began shuddering uncontrollably as he

took a step back.

“Is being an eighth rank cultivator that big of a deal to you?” Wu Wei

suddenly appeared right in front of Yuan Wenji to shield him. “This is a

conflict between the juniors. What’s an adult like you stepping into this and

bullying the juniors for?”

Chapter 118: I've Never Heard

Such a Request In My Entire Life

“Wu Wei, it looks like you’re really asking for a fight here!” Chu Zhongtian

took in a deep breath as he clenched his fists tightly together.

“The two of you should calm down.” Sang Hong also rushed down to stand

between the two of them. “The focus today should be the Clans

Tournament, so the two of you should stop taking the limelight here.

Brightmoon Duke, allow me to say some words of fairness here. Yuan

Wenji has already held back earlier, or else your daughter would have really

been in danger.”

“Been in danger?” Chu Zhongtian sneered furiously. “He dares?”

Sang Hong could only brush off what Chu Zhongtian had said and

continued on, “Patriarch Yuan, even though Yuan Wenji didn’t intend for

this, he did go too far this time around. Why don’t we have the Yuan clan

fork out Chu Second Miss’ medical fees as compensation?”

Needless to say, Yuan Zhengchu went along with Sang Hong’s suggestion

happily. “Of course, that’s only to be expected. I’m willing to fork out

10,000 silver taels for Chu Second Miss’ safe recovery.”

“There’s no need for that. Our Chu clan can at least pay for our own

people’s medical fees!” With a cold harrumph, Chu Zhongtian brought his

younger daughter back to the Chu clan’s resting area.

With Sang Hong siding with the Yuan clan, Principal Jiang taking on a

neutral position, and City Lord Xie opting for an ambiguous stance, it

couldn’t be helped that Chu Zhongtian was in a disadvantageous position

when a conflict broke out.

Amidst the crowd, Ji Dengtu shook his head and said, “Dumb Chu, you’re

simply too tolerant. Even in the eyes of an outsider, you look nothing more

than a coward. Why did Qin Wanru choose you of all people back then?

Wouldn’t it be great if she chose me instead? She would have been able to

live a carefree life right now.”

Wu Wei, and the patriarchs of the Yuan clan and Zheng clan traded gleeful

glances. It looks like the Chu clan’s era has come to an end!

Shi Kun also had a smile on his face. Taking away the arms market is the

first step to unraveling the Chu clan. Before long, Chu Chuyan will fall into

my embrace.

Unable to stand the situation, Xie Xiu whispered softly, “Father, are we

really not going to back the Chu clan up?”

“Of course we’re going to help them,” said Xie Yi. “But when we should do

so is a question worth pondering over.”

Jiang Luofu was not interested in the factional wars occurring before her

eyes. Right now, she was just curious to see what Zu An would do next. He

had transcendent class aptitude, but that only symbolized his potential. He

had wasted far too much time in his younger years, resulting in him being

only at the third rank at the moment. He stood no chance at all against the

fifth rank Yuan Wendong.

While she had advised him to stop concealing his abilities and reveal his

own worth, this situation was clearly not suitable for him to do so. He was

simply too outclassed here to prove himself.

With a livid face, Chu Zhongtian was just about to lead the Chu clan away

with him when Yuan Zhengchu’s voice suddenly sounded, “Brightmoon

Duke, we haven’t finished the tournament yet. Why are you leaving?”

Yuan Zhengchu would have never dared to speak to Chu Zhongtian in such

a manner in the past, but with the backing of the Sunspring Duke and

Governor Sang Hong, as well as the imminent victory right before him, he

was feeling more confident than ever.

“What is there to compete?” replied Chu Zhongtian lividly.

All that was left in the Chu clan was a wastrel, yet the Zheng clan was

insisting for the fight to go on. Wasn’t this obviously an attempt to further

put down the Chu clan?

Was I too tolerant over the years that even these small fries dare to climb all

over me?

Wu Wei chuckled softly and said, “The tournament has to go on. Right now,

the score between the two clans is 4:4, so we need the final match to decide

the allocation of the arms market.”

Sang Hong also nodded in agreement. “Indeed. It’s still a tie at the moment.

Since we have been invited here to referee the match, it goes without saying

that we must ensure fairness in the proceedings. If the Chu clan leaves in

advance, I’m afraid that it’ll make it hard for us to decide on the allocation

of the arms market.”

He was worried that if the Chu clan walked away without competing in the

final round, it would create room for contention over the results of the

tournament. The Chu clan might choose to disregard the results, arguing

that the tournament hadn’t been completed back then. At the same time, he

was also quite curious about the renowned drafted son-in-law of the Chu

clan. Based on the reports he had received recently, while Zu An tended to

act in a bizarre manner, he didn’t seem to be as inept as his reputation

suggested.

Even Jiang Luofu also spoke up in agreement. “Indeed. No matter what the

situation is, we should still hold the final duel to conclude the tournament

properly.”

She was curious as to what Zu An would choose to do here. Would he

continue to keep a low profile, or would he attempt to rise up and awe the

crowd?

It was just unfortunate that his opponent had to be Yuan Wendong, so it

would be hard for him to do anything.

While she was speaking, she uncrossed her legs and crossed them again the

other way around. Her legs that were veiled in stockings were once again

put into the center of attention, drawing the eyes of almost all of the men

present. Of course, it was just a pair of legs, one might say, but it didn’t

hinder these men from developing further on it through their vivid

imagination.

With the other two making their stance, Xie Yi also nodded in agreement.

“Since this is the Clans Tournament, we should see it to the end. Even if

you wish to admit defeat, we should go by the proper procedures here.”

Xie Yi was a little alarmed to see Jiang Luofu’s sudden show of support for

Sang Hong, so he subtly hinted to Chu Zhongtian that they could admit

defeat and end things here.

Shi Kun immediately got anxious. If the Chu clan were to admit defeat just

like that, wouldn’t his planning be all in vain? So, he quickly joined in the

conversation too, “Based on what I know, young master Zu of the Chu clan

has already agreed to fight it out with young master Yuan in order to settle

their conflict. Furthermore, it looks like they have made such an agreement

more than once?”

Wu Qing also made use of this opportunity to gloat at Zu An too. “Indeed, I

can bear testimony to that. Zu An has challenged Yuan Wendong multiple

times in the academy, saying that he would teach the latter a lesson in the

Clans Tournament. I have been looking forward to it for some time now.”

Zu An immediately shot a glance at Wu Qing. You must be dying to fail my

arithmetic class, huh? He was indeed intending to fight it out with Yuan

Wendong, but Wu Qing obviously harbored malicious intentions in mind

for saying those words.

Yuan Wendong also spoke up as well, “Indeed. Brother Zu, you have

challenged me multiple times, and I was looking forward to trying out your

skills too. Since we have time now, I hope that you won’t let me down.”

Those from the Wu clan and Yuan clan quickly chirped in as well.

“Everyone should have heard how Zu An challenged Yuan Wendong earlier

before the commencement of the tournament too. How could he possibly

back down now, right?”

“Fight, fight!”

The crowd was always in for a commotion, and they were still harboring

grudges toward Zu An for flaunting his wife earlier on too. It went without

saying who they were going to side with here.

Chu Zhongtian frowned upon seeing this sight. He felt sorry for Zu An.

They had intentionally told Zu An to provoke Yuan Wendong with the

intention of having him tie down the strongest expert of the Yuan clan, but

unfortunately, the crowd didn’t know of it, and they weren’t in a good

position to explain it either. As a result, they could only have Zu An face

the backlash on his own.

Still, we can’t really put Zu An in danger just like that.

With a deep sigh, Chu Zhongtian chose to surrender. “We’ll be

admitting…”

But before he could finish his words, Zu An quickly cut him short. “Father-

in-law, there’s no need to admit defeat. Allow me to fight this round.”

Chu Zhongtian was stunned. He didn’t expect Zu An to want to fight

despite the current circumstances. Beside him, Qin Wanru’s fiery temper

was ticked off once more. She glared at Zu an and said harshly, “What do

you mean allow you to fight this round? Shouldn’t you know your own

capability the best? Look at what occasion this is? This is not the time for

you to boast!”

Chu Zhongtian agreed with his wife’s words too, “Indeed. Yuan Wendong

hates you down to the core. It’ll be too dangerous for you to fight him on

the dueling ring.”

Chu Chuyan walked over to Zu An’s side and advised, “I know that you

hope to contribute to the Chu clan, but this is not the time for you to get

reckless. Yuan Wendong is obviously seeking to exact vengeance on you on

the dueling ring. You’ll just be falling for his ploy if you head up right now!

You need not care about how others view you. At the very least, all of us

know that you’re doing this for the Chu clan.”

“Indeed, brother-in-law. It’s too dangerous for you to head up right now!”

Even Chu Huanzhao opened her eyes and uttered feebly to dissuade him.

Zu An squatted down by Chu Huanzhao’s side and said, “I was initially fine

with backing down here, but the Yuan clan has gone too far. They viciously

dealt such a severe injury to you. It wouldn’t do not to teach them a lesson!”

By the side, Hong Xingying rolled his eyes. What is going on in that

fellow’s head? Even at a time like this, he’s still running his mouth.

However, with the earlier precedence, he dared not to speak his thoughts

out loud for fear of getting humiliated once again.

Chu Huanzhao’s face reddened upon hearing those words. She snuck a peek

at her mother before hurriedly saying, “I know that you care about me, but

you can’t even defeat me. You’ll just suffer a tragic defeat up there.”

Zu An replied with a smile, “Have you forgotten how I endured seven

strikes of your Wailing Whip the other day? I’m not as weak as you think.”

Qin Wanru couldn’t stand it anymore. She quickly interjected, “Enough,

enough! A man shouldn’t make promises that he’s unable to fulfill!”

There’s no way I’m going to let you seduce my younger daughter too! I

already warned Huanzhao the other time, but she still continues to get close

to him!

Without bothering to look at Qin Wanru, he looked at Chu Zhongtian

directly and said, “Father-in-law, let me give it a try. Even if I don’t go up,

the Chu clan is doomed to lose today anyway.”

Chu Zhongtian frowned. “I’m not worried about losing. I’m worried that

you would be in danger.”

Zu An shook his head and said, “That Yuan Wendong wouldn’t dare to kill

me in public. At most, he’ll just try to sever my hands or legs. If that’s the

case, it would give our Chu clan an excuse to pressure them and renegotiate

the distribution of the market shares.”

Chu Zhongtian was stunned. He didn’t think that there would be such a way

out of it. If the Yuan clan really tried to hurt Zu An, considering Huanzhao’s

previous injuries too, the Chu clan would indeed have a claim to state that

the Yuan clan was undermining the supposedly amicable Clans Tournament

and argue for its invalidation. By then, everything would be open for

negotiation.

Qin Wanru was equally taken aback too. All along, she had viewed Zu An

to just be an incompetent braggart. She honestly didn’t like him from the

bottom of her heart. However, when she saw him insisting on going onto

the dueling ring so as to fight for renegotiation rights for the Chu clan, she

suddenly found herself regretting her actions. Have I been undermining him

thus far?

The Chu clan’s Yue Shan and the others were also impressed by Zu An’s

wits and bravery too, and their impression of him improved greatly. Despite

knowing that it was nigh impossible, he still charged his way through in

hopes of paving an impossible path. This was what true courage meant.

Only Hong Xingying sneered coldly in response. That guy has no

capabilities at all; all he has is that sharp mouth of his. That’s such a forced

reason.

Despite the reason Zu An came up with, Chu Chuyan still insistently shook

her head, saying, “We could have considered the move if it had been on any

other occasion, but Yuan Wendong hates you to the core right now. He

won’t just try to severely injure you. It’s likely that he’s aiming to cripple

you for good.”

Zu An shrugged with a bitter smile, “I’m already as crippled as I can get.

What else can he do?”

Chu Chuyan was taken aback by that remark. There’s indeed nothing much

to cripple Zu An for since he isn’t a cultivator. Besides, his down there is

also… Recalling the incident that night, her fair complexion was swiftly

tinged in redness.

“Have you all come to a decision yet or not? Zu An, are you a man? Are

you planning to back down on the last moment? If you want to, sure. All

you have to do is to admit that you aren’t a man and apologize to me

publicly. I’ll magnanimously forgive you for your offense toward me then!”

said Yuan Wendong with an arrogant voice.

“If you’re so desperate to get face-slapped by me, it’s only right that I give

you what you want, right?” Taking use of the opportunity brought about by

the Chu clan while they were in a daze, Zu An leaped onto the dueling ring.

“Looks like you still have some guts!” Yuan Wendong’s eyes lit up. Fearing

that Zu An would back down, he quickly leaped onto the dueling ring. His

movements were much cooler than Zu An’s. “You want to slap me? Come

on then! Try your best to slap me then…”

While he was speaking, there was suddenly a crisp ‘pah’ sound, and his ears

began ringing. It all happened so quickly that he found himself unable to

process what just happened.

Zu An looked at his own hands before shaking his head lamentably. “I’ve

never heard of a request as depraved as that in my entire life. However,

since you’re earnestly pleading with me, I guess I have no choice but to

give you what you want.”

Chapter 119: No One Can Defeat

Me In My BGM

What just happened?

The crowd was still cheering a moment ago when everything suddenly

plunged into silence. Everyone’s eyes were widened in disbelief.

Sang Hong, Jiang Luofu, Xie Yi, and the other powerhouses were chatting

merrily with one another. Those from the Wu clan, Zheng clan, and Yuan

clan were looking gleefully at Chu Zhongtian, waiting for him to be

embarrassed. Shi Kun was feeling reassured after seeing Zu An had gotten

onto the dueling ring, and he was just about to take a sip of water…

All of them were frozen in place at this very moment.

It could be my eyes playing tricks on me, but did Zu An just slap Yuan

Wendong? How could that be possible?!

Everyone’s first reaction was that they were seeing things. Yuan Wendong

was a renowned fifth rank cultivator where Zu An was a renowned good-

for-nothing who was even weaker than a normal human.

Everyone rubbed their eyes in confusion before double checking with the

companions beside them. In the end, they could only conclude that they

weren’t seeing things, and a huge uproar broke out.

How did he do it?!

Those from the Chu clan, upon seeing Zu An leap onto the dueling ring,

prepared to rush in to stop him. However, the sight that occurred left all of

them stunned too. Chu Zhongtian traded gazes with Qin Wanru, and Chu

Chuyan’s body shuddered. Their eyes were filled with incomprehension.

Only the person on the stretcher, Chu Huanzhao, began clapping

delightfully. “Good job, brother-in-law! Aiyo~”

Her movements accidentally tugged on her injuries, causing her to groan in

pain.

Yuan Wendong was completely dumbfounded. His head was still dazed

from the impact of the strike. If not for the stinging pain on his cheeks, he

would still be trying to figure out what had just happened.

“I got struck by that trash?”

Rage immediately gushed into his head.

You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for +1024 Rage!

He had imagined countless scenarios as to how he should best torture Zu

An so as to vent his anger without revealing his killing intent. He had also

thought about how he should react if those from the Chu clan were to

intervene and stop him. However, this was a scenario that had never crossed

his mind, not even once!

He was actually slapped in the face by a trash, right before all of the notable

figures in the city!

“I’m going to kill you!”

Yuan Wendong’s relatively suave face immediately distorted from anger as

he began charging toward Zu An.

“Wait!” Zu An raised his hand to stop him.

“It’s too late to beg for mercy now!” spat Yuan Wendong angrily.

Despite his words, he still came to a halt. He was thinking about how he

could regain his pride. I should get this fellow to kneel before me, begging

desperate for mercy with tears in his eyes. No, that still won’t be enough.

Zu An combed his hand through his hair and swiped it backward. “I was in

too much of a hurry to come onto the ring that I forgot to play my specially

prepared entrance music.”

As he said those words, he took out a seashell from his robe, and a

passionate melody began playing on the dueling ring.

“…” Yuan Wendong.

“…” Shi Kun.

“…” Wu Qing.

“…” Chu Chuyan.

All of the students from the Sky class immediately knew what was going

on, having witnessed it themselves not too long ago during their arithmetic

class. However, the rest of the crowd was confused by this turn of events,

which led to fervent discussions.

“What’s with this melody? Why does my heart start pumping just by

listening to it?”

“I feel passion rushing through my veins. Where are the villains?! I’m

going to kill them all and save the world!”

…

Xie Daoyun had been sitting quietly in her seat for a long time now. She

wasn’t too fond of fighting, so the duels that had happened only made her

feel drowsy. However, as soon as the melody was played, her body

immediately jerked upright. Wonderment filled her eyes.

“Gong, Shang, Jiao, Wei, Yu[1]… Hm? This note doesn’t fit the music

scale. There are so many notes which I’ve never heard before! How did he

manage to do it?”

“That fellow is always such a show-off.” Xie Xiu was awed too, though

there was no way he would say it aloud. All of a sudden, a thought surfaced

in his mind, and he turned to Xie Daoyun and asked, “Big sis, you’re good

at music too, right? Why don’t you make an entrance music for me too?”

Xie Daoyun shook her head and replied, “There’s something odd about this

melody. I reckon that it was produced by a top-notch master musician in the

world. I’m afraid that I’m unable to produce melodies of the same level as

this.”

Xie Xiu was stunned. “Is Zu An that talented in music?”

He regretted saying those words right away, for he saw Xie Daoyun’s eyes

lighting up. “This is a melody composed by Zu An?”

“I think so. Zu An had played it once in the classroom, and I’ve never heard

it anywhere else before.” Xie Xiu hesitated for a while before deciding to

come clean. There were many people in Brightmoon Academy who knew

about this, so if Xie Daoyun really wanted to look into it, there was no way

he would be able to hide it from her.

“This fellow seems to be an interesting one.” Xie Daoyun looked at the

silhouette on the dueling ring with curiosity in her eyes.

Jiang Luofu was also looking at Zu An too, but her eyes were more focused

on the seashell in his hand. That seems to be Shang Liuyu’s personal

possession. She actually gave her own possession to him? Hmph! And you

dare claim that the two of you are unrelated to one another?

“What’s the point of putting on such a show? Don’t you feel embarrassed?”

Meanwhile, Yuan Wendong’s face had turned as dark as charcoal. He didn’t

think that Zu An was asking him to stop in order to do this.

“What do you know? This is a ritual!” Zu An opened his hands slightly,

reminiscent of the Buddha embracing the masses. “In my BGM, I am

undefeatable.”

“You’ll soon know that all of these antics of yours are completely useless.

All it does is make you look like a clown!” Yuan Wendong tried his best to

mock Zu An so as to regain some of his honor, but somehow, he felt that his

skills in this aspect were lacking in comparison to the latter. Somehow, he

had a feeling that he was still being one-upped, and that only made him

even more infuriated.

You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for +400 Rage!

Zu An sighed deeply and said, “I really don’t know where you find the

courage to say these words even after getting slapped by me. Don’t you feel

embarrassed?”

Yuan Wendong nearly choked. He looked at Zu An and raged, “I was only

careless earlier! I didn’t think that you would attack me just like that! Now

that my guard is up, there’s no way you stand a chance against me

anymore!”

You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for +511 Rage!

Those words spurred a series of boos from the crowd. For a fifth rank

cultivator to be struck by a good-for-nothing, surely something like this

cannot be reasoned with just carelessness anymore, right?

Yuan Wendong simply turned a blind eye to the reaction of the crowd.

Snow had told him that even though Zu An was a third rank cultivator, his

fighting prowess was higher than it looked. So, he wasn’t too surprised that

Zu An actually managed to strike him in a surprise assault.

However, things were different now. He had picked up his attention to

guard against Zu An, so how could the latter hurt him anymore? Hmph!

Just wait till I get my hands on him. I’ll first snap his hands then…

Barely as these thoughts surfaced in his mind, another loud ‘pah’ sounded.

Yuan Wendong staggered weakly, nearly tumbling over. Yet another

stinging pain assaulted his cheeks.

What just happened?

Yuan Wendong was confused. All he saw was a blur earlier. There was just

a split moment where he lost sight of Zu An, and at the next moment, he

was struck once again on his cheeks.

How is this possible?

Yuan Wendong wasn’t the only one doubting the matter. The crowd was

equally baffled as well.

Sang Hong narrowed his eyes. Unlike the others, he saw everything clearly

with the sharp eyes he had as an eighth rank cultivator. Zu An had used a

bizarre movement skill to get close to Yuan Wendong. His movements were

simply too quick that the latter didn’t get a chance to react at all.

Shi Kun also frowned deeply too. He turned to direct a stern glare at Snow

as he asked, “What’s going on? There’s nothing in your reports that states

that he has a movement skill of this caliber!”

Snow was equally bewildered too. “I don’t know about it either! He didn’t

use it the last time I clashed with him!”

“Useless!” Shi Kun cursed coldly before turning his gaze back to the

dueling ring.

Snow’s eyes reddened as she bit down on her lips. As indignant and

aggrieved as she was, she held her tongue because she knew that she wasn’t

in a position to say anything more.

Jiang Luofu also smiled approvingly. If I knew that he had such a trump

card, I wouldn’t have worried so much for nothing.

However, the ones who were the most shocked of all were no other than

those from the Chu clan. Qin Wanru tugged her husband’s hand as she

asked, “Hubby, are my eyes playing tricks on me?”

Chu Zhongtian was no less shocked than her. He replied with a bitter smile,

“How could both of our eyes be failing at the same time?”

Judging from Zu An’s ki pulsation, it would appear that he was a third rank

cultivator. However, how could a third rank cultivator move so quickly?

As it turned out, Zu An had been concealing his true abilities all this while.

Who could have thought that he had managed to silently cultivate to this

level?

Chu Chuyan couldn’t help but ask, “Father, what is that movement skill

he’s using? Why haven’t I seen it before?”

Chu Zhongtian shook his head and replied, “I’ve never seen it before

either.”

The one who was the happiest about the current turn of events was no other

than Chu Huanzhao. She looked at the figure on the dueling in excitement.

My brother-in-law is actually this formidable! Hmph, he actually lied to me

for so long. I’ll slowly settle the scores with you later on!

“Is this the standard of the Sky class students of Brightmoon Academy?

Tsk!”

“What fifth rank and prodigy? Even a normal person can slap him so easily.

I think even I am stronger than him!

“Are the two of them working with one another to put on a show before

us?”

…

Most of those in the crowd didn’t have eyes that were as sharp, so they were

unable to see through the crux of Zu An’s movements. They simply thought

that Yuan Wendong, despite being a fifth rank cultivator, was not pulling his

weight and was getting slapped by his opponent in a ridiculous manner.

Hearing the discussions from the crowd, Yuan Wendong’s eyes reddened.

This bastard! How dare he humiliate me in such a manner?!

You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for +1024 Rage!

He was feeling both angry and embarrassed, but more than that, he was

shocked too. He hadn’t seen how Zu An moved earlier, and his inability to

understand what had happened was interfering with his ability to think

straight.

“You fool! Is your elemental ability just for show?! There’s something

weird about Zu An’s movement skill, so don’t fight him face-on!” Wu

Wei’s voice sounded in his ears.

Yuan Wendong’s eyes lit up. He never thought of using his elemental ability

as he assumed that a fifth rank cultivator like him would be able to curb a

third rank cultivator easily. On top of that, he was worried that he would

accidentally end the battle too quickly by leaving Zu An severely injured.

So, he subconsciously thought that he had to fight slowly with Zu An so as

to torture him.

However, after having gotten slapped twice, he couldn’t care less about it

anymore. He felt that he had to shred Zu An into pieces in order to vent his

rage.

“You have thoroughly enraged me!” Yuan Wendong spat as he began to

back away to the corner of the dueling ring, slowly creating distance

between the two of them. Then, he slowly raised his hands as he embarked

on the standard villainous monologue, “I must admit, your movement skill

is more formidable than I’ve thought. However, before absolute power,

that’s all meaningless!”

As he spoke, the swords and sabers of the crowd near the dueling ring

began to tremble, as if some sort of force was summoning them. Shocked,

the crowd quickly held their weapons tightly to keep it from flying away.

Only those from the Yuan clan were prepared and allowed their swords to

be taken to the dueling ring. The swords swiftly gathered around Yuan

Wendong, floating before him. Their tips were all pointed in one direction,

toward Zu An.

“Is this the prowess of a fifth rank cultivator?”

“Woah! This army of flying swords is simply too awesome!”

“See! How could a fifth rank cultivator like Yuan Wendong possibly lose to

that wastrel from the Chu clan?”

…

Qin Wanru was incredibly agitated. “Why didn’t Zu An use his movement

skill properly to get close to Yuan Wendong and curb him? All of the things

he could do, he waited silently for Yuan Wendong to create some distance

between them! What’s he going to do now then? No matter how fast his

movement skill is, how can he dodge all of them?”

The more she thought about it, the angrier she felt. “He’s showing off for

nothing!”

You have successfully trolled Qin Wanru for +567 Rage!

1. Basically refers to Do, Re, Mi, So, La respectively, just that it’s a more

traditional version to them in ancient China.

Chapter 120: Milord, The Era Has

Changed!

Chu Zhongtian consoled, “I guess Zu An is just lacking in battle

experience, so don’t be too harsh on him. His earlier performance is already

an unexpected surprise to us.”

Qin Wanru still couldn’t help but remark, “It’s true that I didn’t bear any

hopes for him at the start, but I didn’t expect him to have such a formidable

movement skill either. If he has such capability, it’s not entirely impossible

for him to achieve victory. Yet, he used it just to humiliate Yuan Wendong.

He even had the spare effort to play that bee gee em or something. In the

time he wasted, Yuan Wendong finally got serious in the duel. How can I

possibly not get angry at this?”

In her view, if Zu An had used his movement skill to catch Yuan Wendong

off guard and strike his vitals, perhaps, he might have already won by now.

Yet, all he did was just to slap the latter twice. While it had indeed

undermined the Yuan clan’s prestige, his actions had also riled Yuan

Wendong up. Once a fifth rank cultivator got serious, it was impossible to

bridge the difference with just a movement skill.

This tournament was of great significance to the Chu clan. If Zu An had

admitted defeat right from the start, she wouldn’t have felt so frustrated.

Yet, she was shown a ray of hope here before being forced to watch the ray

of hope slipping them by. The feeling of being so close yet so far was more

than enough to make her go on a frenzy.

Chu Zhongtian sighed deeply and said, “He’s still young. He’ll learn after

this incident. Right now, we should be prepared to step in, or else he might

just die under Yuan Wendong’s blade.

Chu Huanzhao couldn’t help but speak up, “Father, mother, why do the two

of you lack confidence in brother-in-law? I believe that he’ll be able to do

it.”

It was then that Hong Xingying finally found the perfect opportunity to

make his piece known. “Second miss, every rank of difference represents a

huge gap between cultivators. If a fifth rank cultivator could be defeated

that easily, Yuan Wendong wouldn’t have been considered as a prodigy and

an expert in our Brightmoon City.”

He thought that he was loyal to the Chu clan, but between seeing the Chu

clan losing the tournament and Zu An earning the winning point, he would

rather see the former happen. He couldn’t stand the idea of Zu An making a

name for himself, and to make things worse, he lost the first match too. On

top of that, he had even mocked Zu An greatly earlier, putting him down as

useless.

In the entire world, there would be no one who could stand such a grave

face-slapping.

Chu Huanzhao’s smile stiffened. She might not be fond of cultivating, but

how could she possibly not know such basic knowledge? “Hmph! My

brother-in-law will definitely be able to do it! Isn’t that right, big sister?”

Her voice sounded less confident, such that she had to turn to her older

sister to affirm her belief.

“Maybe,” Chu Chuyan answered casually as she stared intently at the figure

on the dueling ring contemplatively.

Currently, on the dueling, Yuan Wendong was surrounded by swords and

sabers, and that brought him a huge boost of confidence. “Zu An, I have to

admit that your movement skill did surprise me. If you had struck me with

all you had right from the start, you might have just stood a chance.

However, you didn’t grasp your opportunity well, and this is where it all

comes down.”

Now that he had additional reassurance, Yuan Wendong was not that

anxious to end the battle anymore. He wanted to play a cat-and-mouse

chasing game, hoping to see Zu An’s remorseful and despaired look.

Zu An looked at him in intrigue as he remarked, “I would be going easy on

you if I defeat you right away. If I don’t return what you did to Huanzhao

earlier on, how can I vent her anger?”

Beneath the dueling ring, Chu Huanzhao was overjoyed. She tugged on her

parents’ clothes and said, “See, see! I knew brother-in-law had his own

reasons for doing that.”

But Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru frowned. They felt that Zu An was

taking everything too lightly here. But again, given that he was standing up

for their daughter, they weren’t in a position to say anything either.

“Who does he think he is?” Hong Xingying thought that Zu An was going

for the second miss too despite already having married the first miss, and it

made his envy go out of control. “If he can defeat a fifth rank cultivator, I’ll

eat this table over here!”

Chu Huanzhao didn’t even bother reacting to Hong Xingying.

Back to the dueling ring, Yuan Wendong was enraged by what he had just

heard. “Hahaha! So, you were going easy on me because you want to exact

vengeance for your sister-in-law? Hahaha! This is the funniest joke I have

heard in all of these years!”

You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for +666 Rage!

“Even a joke of such caliber is already considered as the funniest to you?”

remarked Zu An in surprise. “It looks like young master Yuan’s worldly

experience is truly shallow.”

“…” Yuan Wendong.

You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for +250 Rage!

He really couldn’t understand what was running through Zu An’s mind to

be able to joke at a time like this. He was worried that he might just be

angered to the point of spurting blood if he were to continue listening to the

Zu An’s words, so he got straight to the point. “I can’t be bothered to talk

nonsense with you. I’ll show you the prowess of a fifth rank cultivator, as

well as the difference between both of us!”

With a wave of his hands, the floating swords and sabers immediately

rained down toward Zu An. There was a look of frenzy and hatred in Yuan

Wendong’s eyes as he said, “It hurts, doesn’t it? Cry all you want now, for

you’re going to die next!”

It was true that Zu An’s movement skill was unexpectedly powerful, being

able to catch him off guard. However, the entire dueling ring was filled with

swords and sabers right now, allowing Yuan Wendong to launch an

omnidirectional attack on Zu An. No matter where Zu An dodged, he would

still get struck in the end.

“Brother-in-law, careful!” Shocked, Chu Huanzhao’s body sprung right up,

but the pain had her slowly wincing back down onto the stretcher.

Chu Zhongtian and Chu Chuyan also had grave looks on their faces. They

were ready to leap in and save Zu An at any time.

Shi Kun, however, frowned at the sight. Isn’t Yuan Wendong hurrying

things too much here? It was obvious that Chu Zhongtian would leap in and

save Zu An if he were to go this far. If so, they might not be able to hurt Zu

An as they had initially planned.

On the dueling ring, Zu An unhurriedly shouted, “Little Pingping~”

Cheng Shouping had been waiting by the side of the dueling ring all this

time. He threw a weirdly shaped shield over.

Watching as Zu An planted the shield in front of him, Yuan Wendong

sneered. I was still wondering what trump cards you have, but all you have

is a shield in front of you? What about your sides and back then?

My ability is to control all metal! I can easily get those flying swords to

circumvent your shield to strike you!

However, this was fine as well. With this, the Chu clan would be less

inclined to make a move.

With a cold sneer, he diverted his attention amongst the swords and

separated them into numerous waves; two to strike from the sides, one to

strike from the back, and one to strike from the top.

However, it was then that he noticed Zu An retrieving a piece of metal from

the middle of the shield, emptying it out. As a result, the shield took on a U

shape.

The hell is that shield?! You’re just making fun of me!

Yuan Wendong thought that Zu An was either fooling around or was

reminding the Chu clan to intervene and save him. So, he quickly hastened

the speed of his swords.

Ah? What’s going on? Why are my swords not heeding my commands

anymore?

Yuan Wendong was shocked. He tried to will the swords and sabers to

move, but they were all shuddering in midair as another force attempted to

wrestle control over his weapons.

Then, all of a sudden, the swords and sabers all flew in a common direction

—toward Zu An’s shield. They stuck tightly toward it, and no matter how

Yuan Wendong tried to control them, they wouldn’t move at all.

T-this… How could this be possible?

The crowd was shocked by the turn of events.

Yuan Wendong was horrified. He stared at Zu An, whose head was finally

peeking from the shield now, and asked in disbelief, “H-how did you

manage to do it?”

Zu An shook his head and sighed deeply. “Milord, the era has changed.”

Ever since he saw Yuan Wendong’s ability to control swords back at the

academy, he had been thinking of a way to deal with this move. After all, it

wasn’t an easy feat to dodge multiple swords at once, and he didn’t have

Pei Mianman’s destructive black flames too.

Besides, even if he could dodge it, he wouldn’t go for it either. Yuan

Wendong would be coolly maneuvering the swords against him while he

was frantically running around like a rat! He wouldn’t stand for that!

I don’t need my skills to work; I just need them to be cool!

Zu An’s first thought was to use magnets, but the magnetism of natural

magnets was too weak. It would be hard for him to outpower the control of

a metal element cultivator, or else all metal element cultivators would have

been rendered irrelevant by now.

However, it was fortunate that Zu An was standing on the shoulders of a

giant. He had inherited the thousands of years of knowledge of mankind,

which brought his attention to electromagnets. Electromagnets had the

potential to become incredibly powerful, as witnessed by how they were

able to raise cars and the sort in industrial usage.

The principles were also quite simple, and it wasn’t hard to put it into

practice. All Zu An had to do was to contact one of the runemasters in the

Chu clan, and he was able to easily make it out.

What posed a larger problem was the flow of electricity as this world didn’t

have generators. But in exchange, there was something else that this world

had—lightning element cultivators. Using a special formation, it wasn’t too

tough to deposit electricity into something for a short period of time.

Zu An had plenty of money anyway, so he was able to easily get all of these

done. The work was quite simple, not requiring much skill at all, so the

runemaster was able to complete it easily. In fact, he thought that it was so

trivial that he didn’t even bother reporting it to Chu Zhongtian.

He thought that Zu An was simply making a toy to fiddle with. He had no

idea what an electromagnet was, as well as the incredible magnetic force

field it could create when activated.

It was then that those in the crowd finally recovered from their daze. They

tried to take a closer look at the bizarrely shaped shield in Zu An’s shield to

figure out what it is.

“Is that a secret weapon the Chu clan came up with?”

“Well, that’s to be expected. The Chu clan has hundreds of years of history

in smithing, so how could the Yuan clan possibly compete with them?”

“Chu Zhongtian sure is an old wily fox. He was still acting as if the

destruction of the spirit creek would cause the quality of his weapons to fall

beneath the Yuan clan, but it looks like he was planning to prove their

superiority against the Yuan clan during the Clans Tournament!”

…

Seeing the deep looks Sang Hong and the others directed toward him, Chu

Zhongtian was dumbstruck. What’s that in Zu An’s hands? I’ve no idea

either!

Back onto the dueling ring, Yuan Wendong really felt like fainting.

Everything that had happened today had surpassed his understanding.

Looking at the smiling face in front of him, he suddenly felt a chill on his

back.

Just how many more trump cards have that fellow prepared to deal with

me?!

Sensing the withering of Yuan Wendong’s courage, the patriarchs of the Wu

clan and Yuan clan quickly sent him a ki transmission to advise him.

“You fool! That weapon created by the Chu clan might be able to deal with

your flying swords, but its bulky size made it impossible to use it in close-

quarter combat!”

“Just stop controlling your flying swords and fight with him face-on.

Protect yourself with your sword ki. No matter how powerful Zu An’s

movement skill is, there’s still a huge disparity between the two of you in

terms of strength. He can’t possibly hurt you!”

Having listened to the pointers from the two of them, Yuan Wendong’s

fighting spirit swiftly returned to him. Indeed! Zu An might have prepared

all sorts of toys here, but the disparity between our cultivation is not

something he can bridge that easily. Even if I don’t use my elemental

ability, my cultivation itself would be enough to crush him!

Yuan Wendong immediately calmed down after having thought things out.

He looked at Zu An and said coldly, “Zu An, your mysterious weapon did

catch me off guard. However, that’s the foundation of the Chu clan, not you.

Just like I told you the last time, there’s a limit to how far you can go

tapping into the strength of others. In the end, what that matters the most is

your own strength!”

Having been outdone time and time again on this dueling ring, he was

desperate to reverse his crumbling reputation.

He drew a sword from his waist and swung it casually. Its surface was

swiftly imbued with a semi-transparent layer of sword ki. This sight amazed

the crowd present in the area. As expected of a fifth rank cultivator. His

control over sword ki is incredible!

This, in turn, brought credibility to what Yuan Wendong said. It was true

that the toy Zu An brought out was eye-catching, but it wasn’t enough to

win the battle. Once Yuan Wendong recovered from the initial impact, the

battle would still be his to take.

Chapter 121: Whatcha Staring At?

(1)

Zu An was amused. “Why do you like to raise flags so much? Have you

noticed that you have already said those words many times now? Are you a

parrot? Or are those words the only ones you know?”

“What’s raising flags?” Yuan Wendong was stunned for a moment before

realizing he was getting too absorbed into Zu An’s words for no reason. So,

he roared angrily, “All you have is that sharp mouth of yours!”

Despite his vehement rebuttal, he dared not to let his guard down anymore.

He immediately executed the strongest sword art he knew to attack Zu An.

“Frenzied Dance of the Roaming Dragon!”

Yuan Wendong’s body suddenly hastened, rushing toward Zu An like a bolt

of lightning. He wasn’t just charging in a straight line here. His direction

was constantly changing, moving leftward at one moment only to change

rightward in the next. This made it hard for Zu An to predict his movement,

and it had the effect of cornering Zu An too, leaving him with nowhere to

escape.

The trajectory of his sword left behind after images, making it look like a

dragon roaming around the battlefield. With incredible ferocity, his sword

gushed toward Zu An, threatening to tear him into pieces.

Chu Huanzhao nervously gripped her older sister’s words whereas Chu

Chuyan watched the scene attentively, prepared to dive in to save Zu An if

he fell into a desperate position. It was just that she had been severely

injured by Wu Di earlier, so she wasn’t sure if she could make it in time.

Zu An also drew his sword and executed the only sword art he knew:

Brightmoon Academy’s Thirteen Forms of Elementary Swordplay.

Given the powerful momentum Yuan Wendong was coming at him, he

wouldn’t be so foolish as to clash head-on with him. However, the issue

was that Yuan Wendong had sealed off the surrounding area with silhouettes

formed out of his sword ki, leaving him little space to maneuver around.

Zu An was able to dodge most of the sword ki, but there were still quite a

few that he was unable to dodge. For those, he had no choice but to gather

his ki and try to fend against it.

Jarring metallic reverberations echoed in the air as Zu An was forced to

retreat several steps. He felt his ki crashing all over his body from the

rebound, and his hands felt numbingly painful too. He nearly lost his grip

on his sword even.

Zu An frowned. It looks like there’s a larger gap between a third rank

cultivator and a fifth rank cultivator than I thought.

On the other hand, Yuan Wendong stood firmly on the spot, not yielding

any space to Zu An at all. The earlier direct clash had affirmed his strength.

That’s all Zu An has. To think I nearly got scared by him earlier on!

His face began to heat up thinking up to this point. You actually

embarrassed me so much despite having only this much to you. I’ll make

you regret having been born in this world!

You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for +768 Rage!

Zu An was speechless. This fellow gets angry whether he wins or loses. He

really is a match for Qin Wanru’s fiery temper.

Nods of agreement could also be seen amongst the crowd too.

“I knew it. How could Zu An possibly be able to defeat the fifth rank young

master Yuan? As soon as they start facing one another properly, the

difference between them is made clear!”

“But I think Zu An is pretty formidable too. Is he really a good-for-nothing

like what you all said?”

“Even if we underestimated him previously, how powerful could he get?

Based on his ki pulsation, he’s only a third rank cultivator at the very most.

There’s no way he could match young master Yuan!”

“It looks like he has been hiding his strength all this while, gritting his teeth

to bear with the insults from the crowd all in hopes of showing his worth in

this tournament. Had it been anyone else, it might have just worked.

Unfortunately for him, his opponent is the fifth rank Yuan Wendong.”

“My gosh, what a scheming man he is! It’s no wonder why he managed to

marry Chu First Miss. He must have plotted for it!”

…

There were quite a few people who shared the same thoughts as well. City

Lord Xie Yi shot a deep look at Chu Zhongtian. This guy always puts on an

honest and righteous look, but it looks like he’s a wily old fox too.

Sang Hong also made use of this opportunity to teach his son a lesson. “Do

you see that, Qian’er? I told you that this person isn’t as simple as we

thought him out to be, right? He has hidden his true strength all this while.”

Sang Qian nodded in response, but in his heart, he was thinking that Zu An

was still no more than a third rank. He’s no threat to us anyway.

The fight on the dueling ring couldn’t pique his interest anymore, so he

decided to take this time to admire his beautiful fiancée instead. So, he

turned to look at Zheng Dan, only to see the latter staring at Zu An intently.

His face immediately darkened.

Zheng Dan was oblivious to the fact that her fiancé was looking at her. At

this very moment, she was staring at the person on the dueling ring with

amazement in her eyes. “That guy is actually a third rank cultivator! A man

who can resist my seduction can’t possibly be any ordinary person.

However, why did he bet on his own loss then? Did he think that he was

bound to lose today, or does he have a deeper reason behind this?”

Hardly anyone thought that Zu An would win the battle, but Chu Huanzhao

was one exception. “My brother-in-law is incredible! He’s actually able to

stand his ground against Yuan Wendong in a direct clash.”

Beside her, Chu Chuyan explained kindly, “That’s because Yuan Wendong

is afraid of his movement skill, so he opted for a wide range attack. That

resulted in the dispersion of his strength, thus allowing Zu An to barely

cope at the moment.”

Chu Huanzhao was taken aback. “Doesn’t that mean that my brother-in-law

stands no chance at victory?”

Chu Zhongtian sighed deeply. “I thought that he might have a powerful

combat skill that’s similar to his movement skill; if so, he might have still

stood a chance. However, he’s only using the Elementary Swordplay of

Brightmoon Academy. While the Elementary Swordplay has been refined

time and time again over the years, its flaws are very obvious too. It works

well against normal people, but against cultivators, it’s still lacking.”

“Ah…” Chu Huanzhao started getting nervous after hearing her father’s

words.

Hong Xingying, who had pricked up his ears to listen to the conversation,

heaved a sigh of relief. When he saw how Zu An curbed Yuan Wendong’s

army of swords earlier with his bizarre weapon, his heart nearly pounded

out of his chest.

If this fellow really defeats Yuan Wendong, how can I keep my head up in

the Chu clan from this day onward? Fortunately, even the patriarch doesn’t

think that he can win now. That’s good…

Back onto the dueling ring, Yuan Wendong had started embarking on

another wave of attacks toward Zu An, not wanting to give the latter any

chance to catch a breather at all. He was determined to use his cultivation to

crush Zu An into the ground.

Zu An used the Thirteen Forms of Elementary Swordplay to protect

himself. While it was a little awkward, he still managed to barely hold on

for the time being.

“Hm? Can the Elementary Swordplay be used in such a manner too?”

“I must say that Zu An is not as weak as I thought after all.”

“But no matter how adept he is at it, it’s still the Elementary Swordplay in

the end. The threat it can pose toward young master Yuan is limited.”

…

Putting aside the crowd, even the powerhouses shared the same thoughts

too.

Sang Hong was surprised to see how Zu An, despite his young age, was

able to grasp sword ki, an ability that most cultivators only comprehended

later on in their cultivation. His aptitude is honestly amazing, but it’s a pity

that he’s already in the Chu clan. I wonder if it’s possible for us to bring

him over to our side.

Jiang Luofu, on the other hand, frowned. If that earlier attack from him had

been just a bit faster and inched leftward a little, its prowess would have

been far greater. Is he still lacking in practice?

Meanwhile, Zu An was feeling incredibly frustrated. There were many

times that he was tempted to use his self-created Bixie Swordplay, but

thinking of Old Mi’s warning, he couldn’t help but hesitate. If even Old Mi

was wary of revealing the existence of the skill, it was likely to be a threat

far beyond what he could deal with.[1]

He couldn’t be certain that no one here knew of Sunflower Phantasm, but at

the same time, he knew that he couldn’t defeat Yuan Wendong if he didn’t

use it.

As he had managed to push back other fifth rank cultivators like Snow and

Pei Mianman in the past, he ended up underestimating just how powerful

Yuan Wendong, someone who had just barely reached the fifth rank too,

was.

Now that he thought about it, his fights with Pei Mianman and Snow were

quite desperate. He was on the verge of dying, which led to the activation of

the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra, enhancing his ki, speed, and strength to be far

greater than normal. This time around, however, he was fighting with a fifth

rank cultivator under his normal condition.

Yuan Wendong was also starting to get impatient after seeing that his

attacks weren’t getting through. He had been thoroughly humiliated later

on, so if he couldn’t regain his reputation here, he would never be able to

keep his head up in Brightmoon City anymore.

Unable to take it any longer, he decided to resort to his strongest skill to

defeat Zu An once and for all.

“Ravage of the Golden Dragon!”

Yuan Wendong’s body suddenly began spinning swiftly, causing the air on

the dueling ring to gather so densely that it almost felt palpable. The

torrential winds left Zu An feeling as if he was surrounded by massive

waves that were ready to devour him whole.

Yuan Wendong’s movements began to blur out as well. In the blink of an

eye, he suddenly appeared right behind Zu An, aiming his sword straight

toward a ki meridian on Zu An’s right hand. Once a cultivator’s ki meridian

was destroyed, no matter how high his cultivation used to be, he would be

crippled for good.

Of course, there were also treasures in the world that could heal severed ki

meridians, but those were incredibly hard to find. On top of that, who

would bother wasting such a precious treasure on a cripple?

You have tolerated the insults coming from the world for so long, hoping to

turn everything around through this tournament. You wanted to awe the

Chu clan and the entire Brightmoon City. Unfortunately, you met me. I shall

beat you down to the trash you are. You have gotten used to being trash

over the years anyway!

“Stop!” Chu Zhongtian noticed Yuan Wendong’s intention, so he quickly

headed toward the dueling ring.

However, both Wu Wei and the patriarch of the Yuan clan were prepared.

They stepped forward to stop his path. “Brightmoon Duke, why do you

keep trying to interfere in the fight between juniors?”

“You two!” Chu Zhongtian was infuriated. He unhesitatingly attacked the

duo before him with all his might, but the Sunspring Duke was equally

matched with him, not to mention that Yuan Zhengchu was supporting him

by the side. Even if he were to break through their defense, he still wouldn’t

be able to get to Zu An in time.

By this moment, the tip of Yuan Wendong’s sword was already on the verge

of piercing into Zu An’s wrist. But all of a sudden, Zu An shouted out loud,

“Whatcha staring at?”

Yuan Wendong was stunned. Is this man sick in the head? Why is he asking

such a question in the midst of the battle? Nevertheless, he still ended up

replying reflexively, “I’m staring at you, shithead!”

What’s going on?

Yuan Wendong was stunned. He wasn’t planning to answer Zu An’s

question at all, but those words came out of his mouth as if he was

possessed.

In just this brief lapse in concentration, Zu An’s sword suddenly darted

forth, and Yuan Wendong felt a stabbing pain in his wrist at the next

moment. He lowered his head in disbelief, only to see Zu An’s sword

plunged into his wrist. Blood was trailing down from his wrist down to the

floor.

On the other hand, his own sword was only a few centimeters away from

piercing into Zu An’s wrist. Such a distance could have usually been

covered just by him exerting a bit of force on the tip of his finger, but today,

it felt like a gorge between two worlds.

His face kept twitching as he tried his best to push his sword forth, but he

suddenly felt utterly powerless. He couldn’t even hold onto his sword

anymore.

What’s going on? Have I… been crippled?!

Yuan Wendong was flabbergasted. Everything that had happened today was

so ludicrous that he didn’t even want to believe what he was seeing was

real.

1. He’s referring to the skill which he combined the Sunflower Phantasm

and Elementary Swordplay together, which is similar to the Bixie

Swordplay in the sense it’s the combination of the Sunflower Manual and

another technique.

Chapter 121.5: Whatcha Staring

At? (2)

It was also at that moment Wu Wei and Yuan Zhengchu turned around to

look at the results of the battle, expecting to see Yuan Wendong crippling

Zu An. However, what they saw instead left both of their mouths agape.

Yuan Zhengchu was taken aback for a moment before abruptly flying into a

state of rage. With a ferocious look on his face, he leaped toward Zu An,

roaring, “How dare you hurt my son? Die!”

You have successfully trolled Yuan Zhengchu for +1024 Rage!

Even though Yuan Zhengchu’s cultivation was beneath that of the two

dukes, killing Zu An was still a walk in the park for him. Without holding

back in the least, he struck forth with such powerful momentum that Zu An

couldn’t even dodge even if he wanted to.

However, there was no need for Zu An to dodge at all, for a towering figure

appeared before him in the next moment. Chu Zhongtian stopped Yuan

Zhengchu attack, and with a mocking smile on his lips, he replied,

“Patriarch Yuan, this is a fight between the juniors. Don’t you think that it’s

beneath you to interfere here?”

Having been able to return these words to the dastardly Yuan Zhengchu left

him feeling greatly soothed on the inside. He was a good person, but that

didn’t mean that he would allow anyone to trample over him. The Yuan clan

had been acting smugly for the entire day now, and it was time for them to

suffer the consequences of their actions.

“You!” Yuan Zhengchu was infuriated, but his cultivation was lower than

Chu Zhongtian, so he couldn’t breach the latter’s defense.

Fortunately, Wu Wei stepped forward at this moment. However, instead of

making a move toward Chu Zhongtian, he walked over to Yuan Wendong’s

side to first stop the bleeding. Then, he examined the wound with a livid

face.

Out of fear of Zu An’s safety, he positioned himself to ensure that neither

Yuan Zhengchu nor Wu Wei could hurt Zu An without going past him.

Yuan Zhengchu also quickly rushed over to his son’s side to support him.

He took out a few recovery pills and popped it into the latter’s mouth. Then,

he turned to Zu An and bellowed, “Doesn’t the rule of the Clans

Tournament state that the fighters shouldn’t harm their opponents? Yet, you

viciously crippled my son! How vile is your heart?!”

You have successfully trolled Yuan Zhengchu for +999 Rage!

Toward that, Zu An shrugged casually and replied, “I’m afraid I don’t

understand what you’re saying here. There’s only a fine line between

victory and loss in a fight between cultivators, and it was just moments ago

that I witnessed the glorious splendor of young master Yuan’s

swordsmanship. I thought that he might have some other trump cards that

he hasn’t utilized yet. As a third rank cultivator, you can’t expect me to hold

back against a fifth rank cultivator. How am I to know that young master

Yuan would be far weaker than I thought. Haa, I shouldn’t have put him on

the same pedestal as my wife, Chuyan!”

These were the words that Yuan Wendong said mockingly earlier on when

Yuan Wenji intentionally injured Chu Huanzhao. Zu An was just returning

the favor now.

“You!” Yuan Wendong bellowed in fury before abruptly passing out from

the severity of his injuries and his agitation.

You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for +1024 Rage!

“You bastard! You dare to…” Yuan Zhengchu was maddened, but he

couldn’t think of a reason to refute Zu An’s argument.

You have successfully trolled Yuan Zhengchu for +1024 Rage!

It was then that Chu Zhongtian spoke up, “Patriarch Yuan, Zu An is the

son-in-law of our Chu clan, not a bastard. Out of consideration for your

injured son, I’ll let it slide this time, but know that our Chu clan won’t

allow anyone to insult our family members!”

“You!” Yuan Zhengchu’s face flushed red, but in terms of standing or

cultivation, he was far beneath Chu Zhongtian. As angry as he was, he was

unable to make a move here.

Wu Wei took over the baton and turned to the judges of the tournament.

“Judges, it’s a rule of this tournament that fighters aren’t to hurt their

opponents intentionally. In the earlier battle, while Yuan Wenji had harmed

Chu Huanzhao, her injuries aren’t severe and will recover with some time.

However, Zu An has viciously crippled Yuan Wendong in this round. I ask

of you to annul his qualification as a fighter and declare it as the Chu clan’s

loss!”

“A load of rubbish!” Chu Zhongtian bellowed. “Wu Wei, do you take

everyone to be blind? It was Yuan Wendong who tried to exploit the battle

to cripple Zu An earlier, only to end up suffering a counterattack. His fate is

nothing more than a work of karma he brought upon himself. He has no one

to blame for his plight!”

There were some amidst in the crowd who had clearly seen what happened

earlier too, and they roared in agreement. “That’s right! It was Yuan

Wendong who tried to cripple Zu An first!”

However, the supporters of the Yuan clan immediately fought back.

“Rubbish! Why would young master Yuan do that? A fifth rank cultivator

like him needs not to pick on a third rank cultivator like Zu An! Zu An

exploited his moment of carelessness to deal a vicious blow! What a sinister

person he is!”

In truth, most of the spectators were ordinary mortals or low rank

cultivators, so they weren’t able to clearly see what happened earlier on.

They could only listen to the analyses of those coming from both sides and

decide a side to support.

Meanwhile, instead of expressing his stance first, Sang Hong turned to Xie

Yi and Jiang Luofu and said, “City Lord Xie and Principal Jiang, what do

the two of you think?”

Old wily fox, Xie Yi thought in his mind. If he expressed his stance at a

moment like this, he would only end up offending one side no matter what.

However, as someone who had dabbled in politics for many years, he knew

how to maneuver such situations too. “Pardon my weakness, but I’m unable

to tell how young master Zu managed to strike young master Yuan ahead of

time with the most basic Elementary Swordplay. I have to ask Governor

Sang to enlighten me on this.”

His words voiced out the doubts in many of those present too. Anyone

could tell that Yuan Wendong was in an advantageous position earlier on,

but why would the tables be turned on him at the last moment?

“That trash! Why did Yuan Wendong answer Zu An’s question at that

critical moment? He deserves to be crippled!” Shi Kun gulped down a cup

of a tea, but his agitated heart simply wouldn’t calm down. He had made

many preparations in order to ensure that Yuan Wendong would be able to

get rid of Zu An, but his plan had been completely foiled.

Snow tried to console him, “It could be that Zu An is simply too hateful,

such that Yuan Wendong failed to hold himself in.”

“A trash indeed!” Shi Kun tightened his grip, crushing the teacup in his

hand.

Seeing this, Snow immediately fell silent. She wouldn’t want to be

implicated in Shi Kun’s wrath at a moment like this.

Amidst the crowd, Ji Dengtu narrowed his eyes.

That lad sure has a potent mouth. He’s actually able to get that Yuan guy to

answer him at that critical moment. But again, what’s that movement skill

he used? Somehow it looks a little familiar to me. Have I seen it somewhere

before?

But why can’t I remember it? Is it because I tired myself out reading the

booklet recently that it’s starting to impair my memory? Hmm, it looks like

I must curb myself a little. I should prepare some medicine to nourish

myself up.

The only one in the crowd who wasn’t surprised by Zu An’s victory was Pei

Mianman. She sat leisurely in her seat, her beautiful profile drawing furtive

glances from the men around her. However, she paid no heed to it. Her

peach blossom eyes curled into a smile as she murmured, “A man whom I

can’t kill; how could it be hard for him to defeat Yuan Wendong?”

Back to the judges, Sang Hong internally cursed Xie Yi for being as

slippery as an eel while silently listening to the discussions occurring

around him. In truth, he was also having difficulties understanding why

Yuan Wendong would suddenly get distracted at that critical moment. He

must be too young, that’s why he’s unable to focus properly.

So, he turned to Jiang Luofu and asked, “Principal Jiang, what are your

thoughts?”

The victory of the Chu clan in the tournament would indubitably affect his

future plans, which put him in a bad mood. Even Jiang Luofu’s beautiful

thighs couldn’t stir him anymore.

Jiang Luofu calmly responded, “It was indeed Yuan Wendong who tried to

cripple Zu An at the start, only to be counterattacked by Zu An. It was a

critical moment, so neither side could afford to hold back against one

another. Regardless of the outcome, neither side can be blamed for their

decision back there. Since the victor has already been decided, I don’t think

that there’s anything much we should be discussing here.”

Sang Hong was surprised to hear how supportive Jiang Luofu was of Zu

An. However, she didn’t intervene the previous few times he tried to

undermine the Chu clan, so it didn’t seem like she was sided toward them.

More likely, she was just playing the neutral role, as per normal for the

academy.

In any case, it didn’t seem possible to reverse the situation anymore,

especially not with what Jiang Luofu had just said. So, Sang Hong declared,

“Since the victor has been decided, I hereby declare that the Chu clan has

won the Clans Tournament!”

Even though Sang Hong was sent here to deal with the Chu clan, he still

had to uphold the dignity of the royal court. He couldn’t act too explicitly

against the Chu clan, or else it would create openings for his enemies to dig

at. With things already settled in stone, he could only go along with the

flow and revise his future plans.

Those from the Chu clan immediately cheered happily. There were many

incidents throughout the course of the day, and they thought that they would

really suffer a loss in the hands of the Wu clan and Yuan clan this time

around. Who could have thought that there would be such a last-minute

reversal?

On the other hand, those from the Wu clan and Yuan clan looked absolutely

livid. After all of the preparations they had made, they would have never

dreamed that things would end up like this. They were so close to victory

there, only for it to slip past the cracks of their fingers. No one could

possibly take it well.

“Governor Sang!” Wu Wei looked at Sang Hong with an awful look on his

face. Clearly, he was displeased with Sang Hong’s verdict.

Sang Hong turned to look at Wu Wei calmly and said, “Yes, I do understand

that the Chu clan has to take responsibility for young master Yuan’s injuries

too. Brightmoon Duke, I’ll hold you responsible for young master Yuan’s

treatment fee. Do you have any objections?”

“Of course not!” replied Chu Zhongtian heartily. He was quite angry when

the Yuan clan mockingly offered to pay for the Chu clan’s medical fee, but

it seemed like karma was real.

“There’s no need for that. We can at least pay for our own family member’s

medical fee!” Yuan Zhengchu spat coldly. He knew that this was a sign

from Sang Hong that he had already given up on them.

So, he indicated for their clan members to stand up and return back to the

Yuan Estate.

It was then that Zu An suddenly spoke up, “Wait a moment. Are you

leaving just like that?”

Yuan Zhengchu turned around and glared at Zu An with fury burning in his

eyes. “Zu An, what else do you want?”

You have successfully trolled Yuan Zhengchu for +783 Rage!

Putting them aside, even those from the Chu clan had no idea what Zu An

was up to in attempting to stop the Yuan clan’s departure.

“Nothing much. I know that you all hate me so much that you would love

nothing more than to tear me apart. Since that’s the case, I’ll give you a

chance to exact vengeance then.” Zu An pointed his sword toward Yuan

Wenji. “I’ll challenge him to a fight. Let’s settle the conflict right here right

now.”

Many of the spectators were also just about to leave when they heard those

words and rushed back to their seats with excited looks on their faces.

Yippie, another drama.

Yuan Zhengchu was stunned for a moment before realization struck him.

“You want to exact vengeance for Chu Second Miss?”

Zu An nodded. “That’s my intention in mind, but it’s also an opportunity for

your Yuan clan too. From this day onward, I’ll be protected by the guards of

the Chu clan. This is the only shot you got, and you won’t get another

chance if you pass this opportunity by. I advise you to carefully think it

through.”

On the stretcher, Chu Huanzhao was deeply excited. “Brother-in-law is the

best to me!”

Qin Wanru, on the other hand, frowned. “This is utter nonsense. He only

happened to defeat Yuan Wendong by coincidence, and all of a sudden, he

thinks that he’s invincible in the world? While Yuan Wenji is much weaker

than Yuan Wendong, he’s still beyond what someone of Zu An’s caliber can

deal with. Besides, the Yuan clan has already suffered a loss to him, so they

won’t fall for the same tricks again. Isn’t Zu An just forcing himself into the

corner?”

It was then that Yuan Zhengchu received a message from Shi Kun. “Accept

his offer. Make use of this opportunity to cripple Zu An. Our Shi clan will

reward you handsomely.”

Yuan Zhengchu had the same intention in mind, and the Shi clan’s promise

was an additional incentive on top of that. Delighted, he turned to Zu An

and sneered coldly, “Very well. I hope that you won’t regret your decision!”

Zu An shrugged in response. “Everyone present, please be my witness. This

duel is fair and square. Regardless of who wins, no one is to exact

vengeance on the other side after this!”

Sang Hong’s eyes lit up. He immediately agreed to it, “Very well, I’ll be the

witness of the battle for these two young men then.”

He didn’t want to get involved in this matter either, but just earlier on, his

son had informed him of Zu An’s bet with a tearful look on his face. Upon

hearing that they had just lost a million silver taels, he was utterly horrified.

A million silver taels might be nothing much for established clans, but for

the Sang clan which had just risen through the ranks in recent years, it was

definitely not a small sum of money.

He was infuriated by his son’s folly, but the deed was already done. He

could only find a way to resolve this somehow. It just happened that the two

of them were making a bet at a time like this. If something really happened

to Zu An, they might just be able to shrug off the debt and treat it as if it

never existed. So, he immediately agreed to it.

His declaration was so fast that even Chu Zhongtian couldn’t even stop him

in time.

Chapter 122: Revelation

Jiang Luofu shot a surprised glance at Sang Hong, thinking that the latter

was acting much more recklessly than usual. However, she thought nothing

of it and rested back onto her seat. She leisurely crossed her legs and she

prepared herself to watch the show. She was also curious to see if Zu An

still had any surprises in store for her.

With Sang Hong and Jiang Luofu setting the example, the other

powerhouses also quickly returned to their seats to spectate this additional

match.

Qin Wanru tugged her husband’s sleeves and asked, “Does Zu An stand a

good chance against Yuan Wenji?”

“I’m not sure.” Chu Zhongtian shook his head. “Based on what he had

shown earlier, he seems to be slightly weaker than Yuan Wenji. To be

honest, I’m still not very sure what happened to Yuan Wendong earlier to

actually lose the battle.”

Hong Xingying heaved a sigh of relief hearing those words. If that fellow

had really returned victoriously to the Chu clan after triumphing over a fifth

rank cultivator, I really wouldn’t know what to do with him. However, since

his greediness got the better of him, it looks like he’ll be done in here.

If Zu An lost this match, whatever prestige he built up would vanish in an

instant. If so, I wouldn’t need to worry about anything anymore. Heh, in the

end he’s still nothing more than a hoodlum who managed to climb up

through luck. I don’t know how he managed to build up his cultivation, but

he immediately forgot his palace right away. People like him will just die

without even knowing how in the future.

Meanwhile, Chu Huanzhao was panicking. “Isn’t my brother-in-law in

danger then?”

Chu Zhongtian consoled her, saying, “Rest assured, I’ll step in and save

him if it comes down to it.”

“Tsk. Throughout this entire Clans Tournament, have you managed to save

anyone at all?” remarked Chu Huanzhao with a click of her tongue.

This darned child!

Chu Zhongtian nearly choked on her words. He was unable to find any

words to refute what hsi second daughter just said. It took a long while

before he managed to squeeze out, “I’ll move together with your mother

and older sister if anything happens later on. That should be fine, right?”

Only then did Chu Huanzhao finally nodded in approval. “That’s more like

it.”

Chu Zhongtian’s face turned dark. What’s the use of having daughters?

She’s already siding with others despite her young age. She’s really going to

be the death of me at this rate!

On the other hand, the others from the Yuan clan were currently

surrounding Yuan Wenji, giving him a pep talk. “Wenji, there’s no need to

get scared. His real cultivation is only at early third rank. He isn’t a match

for you in a proper battle.”

“Wendong only got careless earlier while fighting him. Put on these ear

muffs later on before the fight. Don’t let the nonsensical chatter of that man

distract you. Just focus your attention on hacking him down once you step

onto the dueling ring. At the very least, try to get at least a hand and a leg

from him!”

“You also don’t have to get too worried about his movement skill either.

We’ve examined it closely earlier, but it’s not a threat at all. You just have

to do this…”

…

On the dueling ring, Zu An yawned in boredom. “Are you done discussing

yet? Is this battle on or not?”

But halfway through his words, he suddenly froze up.

This sounds oddly familiar. Isn’t this what Yuan Wendong did earlier on

before I got onto the dueling ring. Oh shit, am I going to walk in his

footsteps too?

Pui pui pui! How can I be compared to him? That man doesn’t even have a

hundredth of my suaveness! Even the Goddess of Luck will specially look

after me after seeing my handsome face!

“Since you’re in such a hurry to court death, I’ll fulfill your wish!” Yuan

Wenji leaped onto the dueling ring with a darkened look on his face.

“Don’t be like your cousin, who keeps prattling off but ends up

disappointing everyone,” replied Zu An calmly.

“You resorted to despicable means to assault Brother Wendong earlier on!

I’ll make you pay for what you did to him!” Yuan Wenji drew his sword

and pointed the tip at Zu An.

It was then that Yuan Zhengchu berated loudly, “What did I tell you earlier?

Don’t even talk to him! Put on your earmuffs!”

Yuan Wenji’s face reddened. He quickly put on the earmuffs that were given

to him.

Somehow, this guy’s words seem to carry some sort of sorcery. I just can’t

help but want to refute whatever he’s saying.

On the other hand, Zu An was a little disappointed to see the earmuffs. The

‘Whatcha Staring At’ skill was unexpectedly useful in the earlier battle.

While it only caused Yuan Wendong to be distracted for a split second, the

opening it created was more than enough to make a difference in the midst

of a heated battle.

But if all of my opponents were to cover their ears when going against me

in the future, wouldn’t that skill be practically useless from now on?

However, Zu An soon consoled himself that there was no way everyone

would be constantly wearing earmuffs. The reason why Yuan Wenji was

wearing it was not because he knew about the effects of ‘Whatcha Staring

At’ but that he was afraid of getting distracted by his words and following

in the footsteps of Yuan Wendong.

“Die!” Yuan Wenji sneered coldly as he drove his sword frontward. His

proficiency in swordsmanship was beneath that of Yuan Wendong, but he

had at least managed to grasp the basics, allowing him to exert formidable

prowess.

Zu An crossed several blows with him, and soon, he noticed that something

was amiss. He realized that his movements were being predicted!

“Hahaha, that lousy movement skill of yours might look scary at first sight,

but it only has that few maneuvers.” Having guessed Zu An’s thoughts,

Yuan Wenji burst into heart laughter. His words didn’t hinder his

movements though as he continued to dish out ferocious slashes toward Zu

An.

On the other hand, Zu An berated Old Mi in his head for imparting to him a

flawed movement skill. What’s the use of it if it can be deciphered that

easily?!

To be fair, Zu An was using the revised Sunflower Phantasm that Old Mi

changed in a fluster out of fear that someone would see through the real

one. He didn’t have time to properly think through the revised version

through, resulting in it being riddled with openings. With several experts

analyzing it simultaneously throughout the course of the earlier battle, it

was inevitable that they would soon find a way to curb it.

If Old Mi had been given more time to work on it, even the weaker, revised

version would be strong enough that those present wouldn’t be able to

easily see through its openings.

While Zu An was distracted, Yuan Wenji made use of the opportunity to

push his attack on. A gleeful smile crept onto his lips as he slashed his

sword with a force so great that it could hack his leg into two.

My luck isn’t bad today. With the crippling of Yuan Wendong, no one in the

younger generation of the Yuan clan will be able to compete with me

anymore. On top of that, I’d even be able to exact vengeance for Yuan

Wendong, making a huge contribution to the Yuan clan. With this, I should

be next in line as the successor of the Yuan clan!

Thinking back, I really need to thank Chu Second Miss for this. Even

though you bullied me ever since I was still young, at least you made up for

it by sending such a huge gift my way.

Hahaha, just wait till I become the successor of the Yuan clan. I might just

be able to have the Chu clan betroth you to me so that I can bully you

everyday. Just thinking about it makes me excited!

Just as Yuan Wenji was about to slash through Zu An’s legs, he

astonishingly found that there was no resistance against his blade. What he

had slashed through was just a mere afterimage—the real Zu An was

already nowhere to be seen.

From his peripheral vision, he saw a glint of light coming from the side. His

heart jerked in fright as he hurriedly tried to sidestep away. Unfortunately, it

was already too late.

A cry of misery echoed on the dueling ring as an arm flew through the sky

in an arc. It was still clutching onto a sword tightly, all five fingers

twitching nonstop. It was a hair-raising sight.

Then, Zu An smashed his feet into Yuan Wenji’s abdomen, crushing him

heavily onto the ground with a cry of misery. Yuan Wenji tried to rise back

up, but his injuries were too severe for him to move. In the end, he stared at

Zu An with quivering eyes as he cried out, “Y… You’re vicious!”

You have successfully trolled Yuan Wenji for +1024 Rage!

Losing his arm was one thing, but the earlier kick had smashed his ki core,

crippling his cultivation for good. It was just a moment ago that he was

dreaming about rising to greater heights, but in the next, he had fallen back

into the dust. The nosedive drop in his emotions left him on the verge of a

mental breakdown.

Zu An walked over and gazed down on him from above. “I’m not a big-

hearted person. If someone treats me well, I might still irk him with my

words. However, if someone treats me badly, I’ll return it to him tenfold. I

was planning to just fracture your arm and injure your abdomen to exact

vengeance from Huanzhao, but since you tried to sever my legs, you

shouldn’t blame me for returning the favor.”

From the sidelines, Hong Xingying gulped in fear. He felt a shudder run

down his spine. He’s too vicious!

At this moment, those from the Yuan clan flew into a state of rage, “Zu An,

you’re courting death!”

You have successfully trolled Yuan Zhengchu for +1024 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Yuan XXX for +444 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Yuan YYY for +444 Rage!

…

How could Yuan Zhengchu remain calm after seeing two of his clan

members being crippeld? He led the experts of his clan onto the dueling

ring, intent to get back at Zu An.

However, Chu Zhongtian was already well-prepared. He led the Chu clan

up onto the dueling ring as well to stop those from the Yuan clan. “Yuan

Zhengchu, have you no sense of shame? After all your preaching earlier on,

you’re trying to interfere in a duel between the juniors now?”

Yuan Zhengchu knew that he was no match for Chu Zhongtian, so he turned

to Sang Hong and cried. “Governor Sang, this man is too cruel! Please

redress the grievances of our Yuan clan!”

Standing amidst the members of the Chu clan, Zu An felt more confident

than ever. So, he spke out loud, “Uncle Yuan, I don’t understand what

you’re saying here. We agreed beforehand to fight it out to settle our

grudges, but you’re whining right after the duel is over. Isn’t this the

attitude of a sore loser?”

Yuan Zhengchu choked upon hearing those words. Who is your uncle? If I

had a nephew like you, I would have drowned you in the lavatory by now!

You have successfully trolled Yuan Zhengchu for +999 Rage!

Sang Hong also felt incredibly frustrated too. The Yuan clan is more useless

than I have expected. They keep slipping up time and time again, expecting

me to clean up their mess.

Instead of expressing his stance, he turned to Jiang Luofu and said,

“Principal Jiang, I didn’t expect the Thirteen Forms of Elementary

Swordplay to harness such great prowess. I must say that I’m impressed.”

Zu An’s earlier strike was obviously one of the forms of the Elementary

Swordplay, but for some reason, Yuan Wenji, despite his higher cultivation,

was unable to avoid the attack.

Jiang Luofu thought back about the earlier duel, and to be frank, she

couldn’t understand how Zu An was able to bring forth such prowess with a

relatively straightforward move. It felt like there were some bits of his

swordplay that was different from the Elementary Swordplay, but she

couldn’t put her finger on just what it was.

“The Thirteen Forms of Elementary Swordplay is the crystallization of

centuries of wisdom of our academy, so it does have its strengths. It’s just a

pity that our lack of talent prevents us from comprehending the deeper

intricacies lying within,” replied Jiang Luofu.

Xie Yi also spoke up at this moment, “Governor Sang, no matter how we

look at it, Zu An’s earlier strike was indubitably the most normal

Elementary Swordplay of the academy. If Yuan Wenji isn’t even able to

dodge such a strike, it’d be hard to pin the blame on Zu An for not holding

back.”

Sang Hong nodded in agreement. Given the circumstances, it would be hard

for him to side with the Yuan clan. “Patriarch Yuan, we’ve agreed not to

pursue the results of the duel no matter who wins or loses. You’re putting

me in a spot here.”

His words swiftly brought about nods of agreement from the crowd.

“Indeed! We heard it too!”

“The Yuan clan are sore losers!”

“Just how lousy must he be to be unable to even deal with the Elementary

Swordplay?”

…

Zu An heaved a sigh of relief. He had executed the Sunflower Phantasm for

an instant there, and fortunately, no one had seen through it. All they saw

was just the ordinary Thirteen Forms of Elementary Swordplay from the

academy, oblivious to the fact that it had been augmented by the Sunflower

Phantasm to become the legendary ‘Bixie Swordplay’. This sword art was

bizarre in the sense how only those facing it would be able to feel its

prowess. Onlookers would only be baffled by how the enemy inexplicably

fell for his attack so easily.

However, what Zu An didn’t know was that there was someone in the

crowd staring at him intently. “That sword art he executed earlier, why does

it resemble that man’s so much? No, this won’t do. I need to report it

upward!”

Chapter 123: Even Dogshit Has Its

Uses

The crowd was getting riled up, and Yuan Wenji’s loss was indeed

embarrassing too. Seeing that the tides weren’t on his side, he could only

retreat with the Yuan clan with a livid look on his face.

Wu Wei knew that there was no way to salvage the situation anymore, so he

swiftly left the scene too. He was frustrated by how Sang Hong refused to

help them that he didn’t even bother bidding his farewell.

Wu Qing, before leaving with her father, shot Zu An a sharp glare. This

fellow foiled our Wu clan’s plans. Hmph! I’ll get Pan Long and Fu Feng to

think up something so as to vent this grudge!

Jiang Luofu also stood up as well. She was planning to pose some questions

to Zu An, but recalling the crowd they were standing before, it didn’t seem

like a good idea. So, she decided to pose her doubts once they were back at

the academy instead.

Watching as Jiang Luofu stood up, Ji Dengtu hurriedly lowered his head

guiltily before walking out of the area. At the same time, he thought about

how that lad from the Yuan clan had broken his ki meridian and would

surely require treatment. Another sum of money coming into my pocket

then. Heh, little Zu An, I’m liking you more and more!

After Jiang Luofu left, most of the men who had been ogling at her at this

time suddenly felt that there wasn’t much point to this Clans Tournament

anyway, so they scattered too.

Xie Yi clasped his fist toward Sang Hong, bidding his farewell before

returning back to the City Lord Estate. Along the way, he asked Xie Xiu, “I

heard that you’re on good terms with him?”

Xie Xiu nodded. “We had some pleasant encounters with one another.”

“Try to get close to him in the academy. There’s more to this child than

what we see. Even if you aren’t able to befriend him, you must make sure

not to make an enemy out of him. Perhaps, it might fall on him to bring the

Chu clan over to our side.”

Xie Xiu was put in a spot. “Father, it’s not like you don’t know how I am

like. I can win over women with ease, but if you want me to get close to a

man… That’s really out of my field of specialty.”

Xie Yi’s eyes immediately widened angrily. “You still dare to say it aloud!

You squander your time on women and cause a huge load of trouble

everywhere. Just a few days ago, Lord Zhang came over to complain on the

behalf of his daughter. Do you know how embarrassed I was?”

Xie Xiu responded with a sheepish smile. I mean, if we aren’t meant to be,

what’s the point of holding on? Why do those women always act as if it’s

the end of the world whenever we break up?

At the same time, Xie Daoyun shot a glare at her younger brother before

speaking gently, “Father, please leave Zu An’s matter to me. It just so

happens that I'm curious about him too.”

Xie Xiu was nearly shocked out of his wits. “Big sis, that fellow is a

renowned moocher! You mustn’t get fooled by him!”

Xie Daoyun grabbed her younger brother’s ears and twisted it angrily. “Do

you think that everyone in the world is like you? Besides, I’m just going to

consult him on music-related matters. Why would anything happen out of

that?”

“I guess so,” replied Xie Xiu in agreement.

My big sister has high standards. She once said that her husband must be

wise enough to govern a city and strong enough to bring stability to the

country. A hoodlum like Zu An doesn’t fit the criteria at all. It looks like I

was just worrying in vain.

After those from the City Lord Estate departed, Sang Qian rushed to his

father’s side and exclaimed anxiously. “Father, how can you declare it as Zu

An’s victory? What about…”

Before he could finish his words, Sang Hong had already interjected

snappishly, “What else do you expect me to do then? The Yuan clan is

useless! With so many eyes on me, do you think that it’s possible for me to

rule it as Zu An’s loss? You should know that while the man above me

wishes to deal with the Chu clan, he values the reputation and image of the

royal court even more!

“Besides, I haven’t settled the score with you for getting involved with the

creation of a casino on your own accord. You better clean it up well!”

After berating his son, Sang Hong departed together with his subordinates

with a livid face. Naturally, he wasn't pleased by the results of today’s

tournament.

Sang Qian’s face darkened too.

Even though my father is a formidable figure in the royal court, he doesn’t

seem to care much about our clan. If he just earns off the stipends of the

royal court without looking for additional income out there, what’ll happen

to the rest of us?

Besides, isn’t this the usual practice of most officials? They all have their

own business out there. My father is simply too old-fashioned and

inflexible!

It was then that a gentle voice sounded in his ears. “Is Governor Sang

unwilling to help?”

The light fragrance drifting across the air was more than enough to make

Zheng Dan’s beautiful visage surface in his head. His irritation soothed a

little just by her presence. “Yeah, you know what my father is like too. He

isn’t willing to get involved in such matters.”

Zheng Dan frowned. “What do we do then? Are we really going to pay the

1,000,000 silver taels?”

While the Sang clan was involved in the casino as well, most of the money

was still forked out from the Zheng clan’s side. If they suffered a loss, the

one who would be done in more badly was still the Zheng clan.

“Of course not!” exclaimed Sang Qian!

He was still waiting to earn money off the casino, but who could have

thought that a debt of 1,000,000 silver taels would come in first? There was

no way he could swallow that down!

He turned his gaze toward the Chu clan, and a thought suddenly surfaced in

his mind. “Say, since Zu An had to step onto the dueling ring today, don’t

you think that he’ll entrust the bet paper to his study companion in case it

gets torn?”

“You’re saying that we can make use of this opportunity right now to snatch

the bet paper over?” Zheng Dan’s eyes lit up.

“Indeed. We need to do it fast too, otherwise we’ll have no chance to do so

once they realize it,” said Sang Qian.

“Alright!” Zheng Dan immediately wrote down another bet paper before

the two of them began making their way toward the Chu clan.

Not too far away, Shi Kun noticed their irregular movements and frowned.

“What are those two up to?”

Snow shook her head, not knowing what was happening either.

Shi Kun harrumphed coldly. “Now that I think of it, they were the ones who

provided us with inaccurate intelligence yesterday. They can’t be colluding

with the Chu clan in secret, are they?”

The old man behind Shi Kun, Shi Lezhi, said, “I don’t think so. It’s more

likely that they have been duped. That brat is extremely cunning.”

“What should we do from now on then?” remarked Shi Kun with an awful

look on his face.

Now that Zu An had made such a huge contribution to the Chu clan and

reversed his ‘good-for-nothing’ image, the Chu clan would surely view him

in a different light. Perhaps, Chu Chuyan might even fall for him!

Just thinking of Zu An becoming the Chu clan’s real son-in-law and holding

his beloved woman in embrace was enough to fill his mind with envy.

To make things worse, the previous few assassination attempts had been

foiled, which meant that the Chu clan was already on their guard. It

wouldn’t be easy to kill him at all.

“Young master, it’s because your mind is in a fluster that you keep thinking

of killing him directly. You’ve neglected the fact that we have an advantage

over him,” said Shi Lezhi with a smile.

“Hm?” Shi Kun hurriedly turned his gaze over.

Shi Lezhi carried on, “Right now, we wield great power in terms of politics

and authority. We can simply use our strength there to get rid of him.

Regardless of how powerful the Chu clan might be, they don’t have the

strength to openly oppose the royal court. We can simply do this…”

Upon hearing the plan, Shi Kun’s face swiftly cleared up in delight.

“Hahaha! It looks like wisdom does come with age! It’s no wonder why my

father appointed you by my side.”

Snow was also amazed by what she had heard. It’s no wonder why the

number of unaffiliated cultivators is on the decline. Those in power sure

know how to play their cards well. Those who offend them would

eventually be cornered by their ploys before being plucked off.

…

Meanwhile, Pei Mianman walked toward Zu An with a smile and said,

“Congratula…”

Before she could finish his words, Zu An suddenly rushed off while saying,

“Give me a moment.”

Pei Mianman’s smile immediately froze in place. One must know that most

men would get excited just to be able to say a single word to her. Even

though she had mercilessly rejected the men who tried to approach her

earlier, there were still many who couldn’t resist giving it a try anyway.

Right now, she was taking the initiative to approach Zu An, but the latter

was actually ignoring her!

Is it because I’m not charming enough, or that there’s someone more

attractive than me here?

The only reason she could think of was that Zu An had gone to look for

Chu Chuyan. Since the latter was his wife, she could still somewhat accept

it. However, to her surprise, Zu An actually walked over to his study

companion and wrapped his arm around the latter before heading to the

corner to whisper with one another.

“???” Pei Mianman.

Wait a moment, could it be he doesn’t like women?

Meanwhile, Zu An was asking anxiously, “I was too busy during this period

of time that I didn’t have any time to ask about it. Which casino did you bet

at this time around? That’s 1,000,000 silver taels we’re talking about here!

I’m going to strike it rich!”

Unexpectedly, Cheng Shouping looked at him with a tearful face as he

spoke, “Young master, I have to tell you something. Please don’t get angry.”

Zu An waved his hands and laughed heartily. “Don’t worry, I’m in a good

mood today! I won’t get angry.”

Cheng Shouping immediately broke out into a smile as he took out the bet

paper. “I was worried that you would lose in the Clans Tournament, so I

thought that it would be good if I could earn some money to console your

broken soul if that happened. Thus, I secretly betted on your loss instead. I

mean, now that we won the Clans Tournament, what does this bit of loss

count as, right? Aren’t I sharp-witted? Ah? Young master, why are you

picking up your sword?”

“I’ll bloody hack you to death!” Zu An felt that if the keyboard could gather

his Rage points, it would surely be beyond 9000. How in the world did

someone like Cheng Shouping manage to live to this day?

It was also during then that Sang Qian and Zheng Dan rushed over and

heard those words. They immediately froze on the spot.

In the end, it turned out that it’s this idiot of a study companion who

changed Zu An’s bet on his own accord, but the two of them foolishly

changed it back for him?

You have successfully trolled Sang Qian for +1024 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Zheng Dan for +1024 Rage!

Zu An was in the midst of chasing Cheng Shouping when he noticed the

inflow of Rage points in his system. Why are those two getting so angry for,

especially Zheng Dan? Isn’t she still heads over heels for me just a moment

ago?

It was then that Cheng Shouping’s delighted exclamation sounded in the air.

“Eh? Why did the bet suddenly change? Did I remember wrongly? Hahaha!

Young master, quick, take a look! It turns out that I betted on your victory

instead!”

Cheng Shouping passed the bet paper to Zu An excitedly.

You have successfully trolled Sang Qian for +1024 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Zheng Dan for +1024 Rage!

Zu An looked at the two of them before taking the bet paper from Cheng

Shouping’s hand. The bet was indeed on his victory, and the ratio was

1:100. Seeing this, he heaved a sigh of relief.

You have successfully trolled Sang Qian for +66 +66 +66…

You have successfully trolled Zheng Dan for +66 +66 +66…

Looking at the Rage points flowing in and thinking about what Cheng

Shouping said earlier, a thought arose in Zu An’s mind, and he hurriedly

asked, “You said you betted on my loss yesterday?”

“I didn’t.” Cheng Shouping tried to laugh it off. “Needless to say, I believed

that you would win right from the start. Why would I bet on your loss?”

Like hell you believed in me!

Zu An instinctively reversed the words of the Cheng Shouping, and it came

to him what had happened. So, he turned around to look at Sang Qian and

Zheng Dan with a smile and said, “It looks like I have to thank the two of

you then. If not for you changing the results of my bet back, I would have

really been done in by this idiot of a study companion I have here!”

Having watched so many drama serials in his previous, he was aware of

those little tricks involving special ink and the sort.

You have successfully trolled Sang Qian for +1024 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Zheng Dan for +1024 Rage!

However, the two of them maintained smiles on their faces as they said,

“Young master Zu, I’m afraid that I don’t really get what you’re saying.

We’re just here to congratulate you on your victory.”

It was only a guess from Zu An’s part, but the inflow of Rage points

affirmed his guess. He shot a sharp glare at Cheng Shouping, who was

looking back at him with a fawning smile.

This fellow is really untrustworthy, but his dumbness is compensated by his

good luck. It would be good if I try to take advantage of that. He would be

like a wild card I could use to throw my opponents off guard, similar to

what happened this time around.

After all, even a sheet of toilet paper or a pile of dogshit has its own use in

this world.

Chapter 124: Interrogation

“Thank you, thank you.” Zu An had just earned a huge sum of money while

learning of a new way to exploit Cheng Shouping’s unreliable nature, so his

mood was pretty good.

Sang Qian and Zheng Dan quickly chatted with him for a moment before

leaving. As soon as they were out of his line of sight, Sang Qian’s face

immediately turned incredibly ugly. “Damn it! Why did I foolishly help him

change the bet back then?”

Zheng Dan also had a bitter smile on her lips. “Who could have thought that

a study companion would be so audacious as to defy his own master’s

orders?”

Sang Qian agreed with those words. A thought suddenly arose in his mind,

and he asked, “This is indeed illogical. Do you think that it’s possible that

Zu An predicted that we would change his bet paper, so he intentionally

betted on his loss so as to deliver the wrong message to the Yuan clan?”

“He would be a truly terrifying person if he’s able to think that far ahead.”

Zheng Dan shook his head with a frown. “I don’t think that he’s able to

predict our actions to that extent. I reckon that he likely intended to spend

the 10,000 silver taels to mislead the Yuan clan, only for us to mistakenly

change it back.”

“Damn it!” Sang Qian felt that his luck was really horrible recently. Things

simply wouldn’t go his way.

You have successfully trolled Sang Qian for +999 Rage!

“Our initial plan to swap the bet paper failed. What should we do next?”

Zheng Dan took out the new bet paper she had prepared just earlier on and

ripped it apart.

“It looks like I can only count on you for this,” Sang Qian looked at Zheng

Dan as he spoke.

Zheng Dan’s face immediately turned cold. “You want me to lay a honey

trap again?”

Sang Qian smiled sheepishly as he replied, “You’re going to have to find

the 7,500,000 silver taels debt note anyway. It’s just looking for another bet

paper here…”

Zheng Dan interjected sharply with a wintry look. “Sang Qian, why do you

keep pushing your fiancée into the arms of another man? Do you have some

sort of feitsh regarding that?”

Sang Qian immediately lost his temper. “I’m not asking you to really

succumb to him. Didn’t you say that he didn’t take advantage of you? Why

are you saying as if I’m asking you to sell your body to him?”

Zheng Dan’s eyes reddened tearfully. “Those who walk along the river will

eventually get their feet wet. Zu An isn’t as weak as the rumors put him out

to be. If he really tries to take advantage of me, I’ll never be able to face

anyone in the future!”

In truth, she wasn’t really opposed to getting close with Zu An. However,

she couldn’t afford to appear too willing here. She had to make Sang Qian

feel guilty and aware that she was forced into this, and only then would he

cherish her more and not pursue this matter after their marriage.

Looking at the pitiful look on Zheng Dan’s face, Sang Qian felt his heart

shattering into pieces. He quickly consoled her, saying, “I know that I’m

putting you in a spot here. Don’t worry, I’ll protect you well. If Zu An dares

to bully you, you can be certain that I’ll take his life!”

“Really?” Zheng Dan looked at Sang Qian with large, watery eyes.

“Of course!” Sang Qian’s heart softened at the sight of his beautiful fiancée.

“Forget it, let’s just give up on the 7,500,000 silver taels debt note. We

shouldn’t risk it.”

However, Zheng Dan shook her head in resignation and said, “That

wouldn’t work either. The 7,500,000 silver taels debt note is important to

your plans. On top of that, there’s also our 1,000,000 silver taels bet paper

too. For our future, I have no choice but to sacrifice myself.”

“I’ll make it up to you.” Looking at the beautiful, gentle woman before him,

Sang Qian felt that he was blessed to find such a virtuous fiancée.

However, Zheng Dan’s mind had already moved on to ponder upon how

she should best approach Zu An.

…

Zu An had a grand sneeze. He rubbed his nose as he murmured, “Which

beautiful lady is thinking of me now?”

Beside him, Cheng Shouping quickly nodded fawningly.

Earlier today, the young master showed his true worth and defeated a fifth

rank cultivator. More importantly, he helped the Chu clan win the Clans

Tournament. Without a doubt, his standing will rise greatly from this day

onward, and the same goes for me too!

At a moment like this, I must make sure to get into the young master’s good

books!

“Aren’t you afraid of your own wife hearing those words?”

A teasing voice suddenly sounded at this moment, and Pei Mianman

walked over with an air of fragrance around her.

Zu An laughed softly and said, “My wife has already said that she doesn’t

mind me looking for other women.”

Pei Mianman was taken aback, not expecting Zu An to respond in such a

manner. “Chu Chuyan said those words?”

“Why don’t you ask her then?” Zu An pointed to Chu Chuyan as he said.

“How is it? Are you interested in becoming my woman? Chu Chuyan is

your good friend anyway, so I bet the two of you will get along with one

another.”

Cheng Shouping was stunned to hear those words, thinking that the young

master was brave. It looks like I’ve really underestimated him in the past.

To think that he would try to seduce his wife’s best friend right in front of

her! T-this… When will the young master offer me some pointers to the

secrets of his success?

“You want to be my man?” Pei Mianman chuckled softly, not getting angry

at all. “It isn’t impossible, but your current strength is still far lacking.”

Cheng Shouping’s eyes immediately reddened, and he hurriedly lowered his

head. His heart was thumping fast just by looking at Pei Mianman. She

really is a temptress. Even her peach blossom eyes are more than enough to

draw in the souls of others. The young master is trul amazing for being able

to chat with her calmly.

“How high does my cultivation have to be in order to be considered strong

enough?” asked Zu An with a smile.

“You’ll know it by then.” Noticing that Chu Chuyan was making her way

over, Pei Mianman stopped teasing Zu An. “Alright, I’ll be leaving now.

Don’t forget our promise.”

She left the area after saying her piece, leaving behind a trail of fragrance

behind her.

“What did you two agree on?” Chu Chuyan looked at Zu An doubtfully.

“We agreed for her to become my little wife in the future,” replied Zu An.

Cheng Shouping was utterly impressed by those words. The young master

is a true warrior!

Chu Chuyan, on the other hand, was rendered speechless. Clearly, she

didn’t take Zu An’s words seriously. “You should come with me. Everyone

has many things to say to you.”

As soon as Zu An walked over to where the other members of the Chu clan

was, he found himself swarmed with a huge crowd.

“Young master, we didn’t expect you to be this formidable! This is a

recovery medicine special concocted by the Red Cloak Army…”

“Our young master defeated his enemy so easily that he didn’t sustain any

injuries at all. Why would he need your medicine?”

“Our medicine isn’t just for healing injuries. It can hasten the recovery of

one’s ki too. Given the two battles the young master has fought earlier, he

must have depleted his ki greatly.”

…

“A bunch of bootlickers!” spat Hong Xingying coldly. He couldn’t stand

how the others were rushing to fawn on Zu An.

Quite a few of them were still showing concern for him earlier on, only to

rush to Zu An’s side right now. With Zu An’s accomplishment today, his

rise in the Chu clan was already inevitable. Seeing this, Hong Xingying’s

face turned livid.

Tsk, the world sure is a mercenary place! What should I do from now on…

It was then that the vision before him darkened. He raised his gaze, only to

see two servants of the Chu clan had moved a table over and were looking

at him intently. He immediately asked impatiently, “What are you doing?”

It looks like a fallen tiger would even get bullied by mere dogs. Even these

weaklings dare to provoke me now, huh?

“I wonder who mentioned earlier that he would eat a table up if my brother-

in-law wins!” a teasing voice sounded.

Chu Huanzhao was still lying on the stretcher in a tragic state, but judging

from how she was shaking her fair legs leisurely in the air, it would seem

that she was in a good mood.

Had it been any other occasion, Hong Xingying would find his heartstrings

being pulled along by the movements of her long, slender legs, but the

words she had spoken earlier had riled him up.

Chu Huanzhao patted on the table and said, “Look, I’ve kindly prepared a

superior redwood table just for you. It might be made of good material, but

it’s much softer than most other tables out there, so don’t say that I’m

taking advantage of you. Oh right, I’ve prepared a pot of water for you to

aid in your digestion too. If it isn’t enough, feel free to tell me. I can get the

other servants to bring more over.”

“I…” Hong Xingying’s mouth opened and closed, but he couldn’t find any

words to say at all. He was starting to regret not feigning unconscious

earlier on, leading to him being placed in such an awkward situation.

It’s all that Zu An’s fault!

You have successfully trolled Hong Xingying for +999 Rage!

Zu An was still happily accepting the crowd’s gifts when he noticed this

inflow in Rage points. He turned to look over in Hong Xingying’s direction,

only to see Chu Huanzhao ordering the servants to place a massive table

right before him.

Oh? It looks like my sister-in-law is helping me get even with him, huh?

It was around then that Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru noticed the awkward

position Hong Xingying was in. Chu Zhongtian glared at his younger

daughter and bellowed, “Ridiculous! What are you doing?”

Chu Huanzhao pouted unhappily as she replied, “He was the one who said

earlier that if my brother-in-law can win the duel, he would gobble down a

table right on the spot. You should have heard him loud and clear. It’s not as

if I’m forcing him into anything!”

“Enough! How can you take such jokes seriously?” Qin Wanru shot a

glance at the servants, and they immediately carried the table away

anxiously. “We’re all one family here. It’s also out of concern that Xingying

said those words earlier. You should stop causing trouble here.”

Be it out of consideration of Butler Hong or Hong Xingying’s contribution

toward the Chu clan over the last few years, Qin Wanru was obliged to

stand up for him. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but think that Hong

Xingying wasn’t as trustworthy as a person she thought he was.

Chu Huanzhao still wanted to argue about the matter, but her older sister

tugged her arm to stop her. So, she could only turn her head away unhappily

and sulk.

“Thank you, Master and Madam.” Hong Xingying quickly bowed down to

thank Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru. However, he was feeling incredibly

bitter inside. He could feel the piercing stares coming from the others.

It’s all Zu An’s fault!

You have successfully trolled Hong Xingying for +999 Rage!

Zu An was utterly flabbergasted. What the hell? You’re blaming me for that

too?

It was obvious that there was no room for reconciliation between the two of

them anyway, so Zu An decided to make use of this opportunity to squeeze

out as many Rage points as he could. “Actually, it’s not that hard to eat a

table. You can soak it in water for a few days to soften it before munching

down on it. Otherwise, you can also have it grounded and mixed in water

before drinking it. If you find it flavorless, you can even coat it in flour

before deep-frying it. Perhaps, you might just get addicted to the taste!”

“…” Hong Xingying.

“…” Chu Zhongtian.

“…” Qin Wanru.

What in the world did I just hear? Who in the right mind would analyze the

way to eat a table?!

Qin Wanru harrumphed coldly and said, “Men, bring the casualties back to

the Chu Estate first!”

She was worried that a conflict might break out if the two of them were to

remain in each other’s presence, so she quickly separated them.

Zu An looked at the massive inflow of Rage points coming in and smiled in

delight. Oh well, I guess I should give it a rest for now. I have to think in

the long-term. If I break Hong Xingying down right now, it’ll be hard to

earn anything from him in the future.

After Hong Xingying was escorted off as a ‘casualty’, the remaining

members of the Chu clan also swiftly packed up and returned to the Chu

Estate too.

Once they were back at the estate, Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru instructed

the others to wait outside and called Zu An alone into the study room.

Everyone thought that Zu An was going to rise through the ranks after this

incident, and they started thinking about how they should get close to him.

Those who had offended him in the past also felt deeply regretful as they

racked their brains for ways how they could salvage their relationship with

him.

Over in the study room, as soon as the doors were closed, Zu An laughed

heartily and said, “Actually, you need not be too thankful to me. Chuyan is

my wife, after all. It’s only right for me to do my part for the Chu clan. Of

course, if you wish to reward me with 100,000 silver taels or something, I’ll

humbly accept your goodwill. Otherwise, I’ll be fine with having a few

beautiful maids to wait on me too.”

“…” Chu Zhongtian.

“…” Qin Wanru.

“…” Chu Chuyan.

“Dream on!” Unable to take it anymore, Qin Wanru slammed her palm on

the table and questioned, “Speak! Who sent you here?”

Chapter 125: Hand My Prize Over

Zu An’s words left Chu Zhongtian stumped too.

Just how brazen must you be to dare ask for beautiful maids in the presence

of your parents-in-law and your wife? Do you think we would send you

those to compete with our daughter? There’s no such parents in the world

who would do that!

Back then, I wanted a few beautiful maids too, but in the end, aren’t I still

single here?

Chu Zhongtian couldn’t help but direct a grudging look toward his wife.

Zu An was shocked by those words too. A furrow gradually formed on his

forehead as he asked, “You can’t be so stingy as to shirk compensation after

the huge contribution I’ve made for the Chu clan, right?”

“…” Qin Wanru.

Chu Chuyan finally spoke up at this moment, “Do you still not understand

the situation yet? We want to know who’s behind you! What’s your purpose

of going this far to infiltrate our Chu clan—cough cough!”

Halfway through her words, she suddenly began coughing violently. Chu

Zhongtian quickly asked out of concern, “Your injuries seem to be worse

than I expected.”

“It isn’t an issue. It won’t get in my way.” Chu Chuyan shook her head

before turning her gaze back to Zu An.

“I infiltrated the Chu clan?” replied Zu An subconsciously. “Weren’t you

the one who chose me as your drafted son-in-law and brought me in?”

A tinge of redness formed on Chu Chuyan’s face as she explained, “I was

just thinking of… choosing an ordinary, unambitious man. I thought that

you would fit the criteria. While the world says that you’re inept… I don’t

care about all those. But now, I realized that you’ve been keeping me in the

dark all along.”

Qin Wanru followed up as well, “Indeed! You went through so much effort

to hide your true strength so as to appear harmless before us. Without a

doubt, you must be planning something great. On top of that, you were even

able to circumvent the background check we conducted. This means that

there has to be a greater power assisting you. Speak! Were you sent by the

empress’ faction or King Qi’s faction?”

Zu An finally understood why they were so angry at him, and he answered,

“Mother-in-law, who do you think I was sent by then?”

“Shut your mouth! Don’t call me mother-in-law!” bellowed Qin Wanru

furiously. “It goes without saying that you’re…”

But halfway through her words, she suddenly froze up. She realized that Zu

An’s actions didn’t benefit any of the factions she had just listed.

“If I really bear malicious intentions in mind, why would I risk exposing

myself in order to help the Chu clan win the Clans Tournament? You should

also be aware of the implications behind this tournament too,” added Zu

An.

“Hmph! It might be because you weren’t valued by the Chu clan thus far, so

you wanted to make a name for yourself to win our favor. At the same time,

you would also be able to get together with Chuyan… Cough cough.”

There was no way that she wouldn’t have noticed that her daughter and son-

in-law hadn’t been sleeping in the same room.

“Fine, allow me to put it in another way then. If I was from the empress’

faction, why would I get into a conflict with Shi clan, and why would Snow,

whom they had slotted by Chuyan’s side, be out for my life then?” said Zu

An. “And if I’m from King Qi’s faction… Oh? It does seem like there’s a

chance here.”

Qin Wanru sneered coldly, “Nothing more to say, huh?”

However, how could Zu An possibly lose in an argument? He swiftly

recovered and thought of an idea, “There’s actually an easy way to prove

that I’m not related to King Qi.”

“How do you intend to prove it?” asked Chu Chuyan.

Subconsciously, she hoped that Zu An had nothing to do with all of these

powers. She didn’t think that she was really fond of Zu An, just that she had

already gotten used to being with him. While he was different from how she

thought him out to be, it wouldn’t be easy for her to find someone else at

this point.

Zu An pointed to heaven and swore, “How about this? King Qi’s sons will

have no buttholes and all of his daughters will become my concubine. Now,

you can’t possibly still think that I’m from King Qi’s faction, right?”

Qin Wanru’s body recoiled in horror whereas Chu Chuyan hurriedly averted

her embarrassed gaze/

Chu Zhongtian burst out angrily, “How can you say such words out loud! If

King Qi hears of that, he’ll have you executed right away!”

Zu An chuckled cheekily in response, “Well, doesn’t that prove that I have

no relations with King Qi? You should trust me now, right?”

“Even if you aren’t related to King Qi, there’s no saying that you might still

be from the empress’ faction,” said Qin Wanru. “Who knows? You might

just be putting on a skit with Shi Kun and the others so as to win our trust.”

“Isn’t that simple to disprove too?” Zu An put his hands up and began

swearing once more. “From now on, the empress shall…”

Chu Zhongtian hurriedly reached out to cover Zu An’s mouth. “Enough,

enough! You shouldn’t talk about the empress in such a manner even if she

can’t hear you. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time that your rotten mouth

lands you into deep trouble!”

Zu An scoffed a little upon hearing those words. Sorry to let you down, but

I’m counting on this rotten mouth of mine to rise through the ranks.

“Then how do you possess your current level of cultivation?” Chu Chuyan

stared at Zu An intently. “Based on what I saw on the dueling ring, you

should be at the third rank at the very minimum.”

“Are you surprised to see that your husband isn’t a good-for-nothing

contrary to what others say?” Zu An leaned toward Chu Chuyan as he asked

with a smile.

Chu Chuyan subconsciously took a step back to widen the distance between

them before saying, “I’m more shocked than surprised. You haven’t

answered my question yet.”

“Oh.” Zu An pondered for a moment before replying, “Actually, I’ve been

talented ever since a young age. It’s just that I don’t like bragging so I’ve

been keeping a low profile all this while. That’s why the world

misunderstands me… Ah! The common populace simply doesn’t

understand prodigies and discriminate against them!”

“Do you take us as fools?” Qin Wanru couldn’t take it anymore. “We did a

thorough check on you before accepting you in as our drafted son-in-law. In

the past decade, you’re a good-for-nothing from head to toe. Your deceased

uncle doesn’t know any cultivation either, so there’s no one around you who

you could have possibly learned how to cultivate from.”

“Well, it’s like this. Many years ago, I met an old beggar who was on the

verge of starving to death. Out of pity, I gave him a bun, and that made him

extremely thankful to me. So, he imparted to me a cultivation technique.

I’ve been practicing it diligently since then, and before I knew it, I’ve

already reached my current level.” Zu An laughed heartily.

He had seen plenty of martial arts movies in his previous life to know about

the plot devices that give rise to the protagonist’s power skips.

“Hah! A cultivator would actually be starving to the point where he needs

you to save him?” Qin Wanru totally didn’t believe the story at all. “Are

you taking me for a fool?!”

“I mean, cultivators can get into bad positions at times too! God knows

what he has been through!” Zu An swiftly supplemented his story.

Qin Wanru and Chu Zhongtian shot a glance at one another before nodding

inconspicuously. If Zu An had tried to explain all of the details, they might

have doubted him even more. However, Zu An’s vehement and forceful

attitude in insisting on his imperfect story somehow made him look much

more credible.

“Very well, we’ll believe you for the time being. However…” Qin Wanru’s

tone suddenly turned sharp. “… if we were to ever find out that you have

been deceiving us, you shouldn’t blame us for getting nasty on you!”

“But what if Chuyan and I already bear grandchildren for you by then?

Won’t you be a bit nicer on me on the account of your grandchildren?”

“…” Chu Zhongtian.

“…” Qin Wanru.

Chu Chuyan was both embarrassed yet enraged. “Shut up! Who’s going to

bear children with you?!”

Zu An shrugged calmly. “Aren’t we a couple? It’s perfectly normal for us to

have children.”

“Pui!” No matter how cold-natured Chu Chuyan was, she was still a young

maiden. Zu An’s teasing left her turning her head away in a huff.

This fellow really is too much! Despite being… he still wants to make fun

of me!

Chu Zhongtian coughed lightly to alleviate the awkwardness in the room.

“So, Zu An…”

But before he could finish his words, Zu An had already interrupted,

“Father-in-law, please don’t call me Zu An anymore. Please call me Ah Zu

instead.”

“Ah Zu?” Chu Zhongtian was perplexed. “That’s quite a weird nickname

you want me to call you by.”

Zu An explained with a smile, “Back at my hometown, Ah Zu is a term

used to refer to handsome guys.”[1]

Chu Zhongtian couldn’t help but roll his eyes upon hearing those words.

However, knowing that Zu An had a screw loose, he decided against

arguing with him. “Ah Zu, you’ve crippled two of the most outstanding

juniors in the Yuan clan today. You must make sure to be careful from now

on. I’ll also dispatch more experts to protect you as well.”

Qin Wanru added on, “Also, you shouldn’t get too complacent just because

you’ve managed to win on the dueling ring earlier today by luck. Your true

cultivation is still only at the third rank. If not for Yuan Wendong losing his

focus at a crucial moment, the one to be crippled would have been you

instead. You should try to keep a lower profile from now on.”

Zu An shrugged helplessly. “There’s nothing I can do about that. Someone

as outstanding as me is bound to be in the limelight no matter where I go.

Even if I want to keep a low profile, the world doesn’t allow me to do so!”

Unable to stand all the bragging coming from Zu An anymore, Chu

Zhongtian and Qin Wanru decisively kicked Zu An out of the room.

Once Zu An left the area, Chu Zhongtian turned to his daughter and asked,

“Chuyan, what’s your take on this matter?”

Chu Chuyan pondered with a frown before replying, “I don’t think that he’s

a spy sent by the other clans. No one would send someone of his character

over to spy on us.”

Thinking about Zu An’s unruly personality, Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru

agreed deeply with her words.

“No matter what, he’s only a third rank cultivator at the moment. Even if

there’s something amiss with him, we still have the means to deal with

him,” said Qin Wanru.

Chu Chuyan nodded in agreement too. “I’ll pay closer heed to him in the

future.”

…

Meanwhile, as soon as Zu An left the room, Chu Huanzhao quickly walked

up to him together with a group of people. “Brother-in-law, brother-in-law!

How is it? Did my parents reward you for your effort or something?”

The others in the crowd also looked at Zu An with heated looks in their

eyes. No matter how low Zu An’s position was in the Chu clan previously,

he was still its son-in-law. With the merits he had accrued through the

tournament today, there was no doubt that he would become deeply favored

by the Chu clan from now on.

It was also only then that a severe problem had dawned on Zu An. Wait a

moment… Yeah, where is my reward?

He got too caught up in Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru’s tempo that he

actually forgot about this matter!

“You didn’t receive any rewards?” Noticing how Zu An had gone silent, she

immediately felt indignant on his behalf. “How can my parents act like

that? My big sister should have spoken up for you!”

“Who says that there’s no reward?” A smile curled on Zu An’s lips. “They

have rewarded you to me.”

“Ah?” Chu Huanzhao was stunned for a moment before she finally

understood what those words meant. Her face immediately reddened. “Did

they really…”

It was then that she noticed the teasing look in Zu An’s eyes and realized

that he was making fun of her. She immediately lifted the crutches

supporting her body and smacked it down on him. “Stinky brother-in-law,

you lied to me! I’ll beat you to death!”

“I’m just joking! Ey, aren’t you injured? How in the world are you able to

run that quickly?” Zu An quickly scooted off, and Chu Huanzhao chased

him desperately.

The crowd was left staring at one another in bewilderment. The second

branch’s Chu Hongcai heaved a deep sigh of relief and said, “That scared

me! I thought that uncle really betrothed Huanzhao to him!”

The plump Chu Yucheng’s eyes curled into crescents as he said, “That’s not

entirely impossible.”

Chu Hongcai scoffed in response, “What nonsense are you spouting? Just

think about what kind of people Chuyan and Huanzhao are? How could the

two sisters possibly wait upon the same man, not to mention, Zu An is just a

drafted son-in-law!”

Chu Yucheng didn’t bother arguing his point. Instead, he gazed at the two

people running around the Chu clan’s courtyard contemplatively. He could

tell from Huanzhao’s coy response earlier that she wasn’t averse to the idea

at all. On top of that, instead of taking out her Wailing Whip to strike him,

she instinctively used her crutches instead.

It looks like our drafted son-in-law is quite an interesting man.

…

In the midst of fooling around with Chu Huanzhao, he unknowingly

returned back to his own residence. As soon as he opened the door,

however, he found Old Mi standing right before him, leaving him jolting

backward.

For some reason, he simply felt uncomfortable in the old man’s presence.

Chu Huanzhao also noticed that there was a stranger present, and it

belatedly dawned on her that it was inappropriate that the second miss of

the Chu Estate was actually prancing around with her brother-in-law like

that. Her face reddened as she harrumphed. “Hmph! I’ll settle the score

with you next time!”

Then, she quickly left the area.

After Chu Huanzhao left, Old Mi turned to look at Zu An and asked coldly,

“How did you manage to raise your cultivation that quickly?”

1. It's a reference to Daniel Wu, otherwise known as Wu Yanzu who was a

known actor in mainland China in the late 90s and early 2000s for his good

looks and bod.

Chapter 126: The Ways of a Vixen

Zu An’s heart skipped a beat. He knew that he couldn’t possibly fool Old

Mi with the same excuse he used for Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru. Of

everyone in the Chu Estate, the one person who knew Zu An’s

circumstances the best was no other than Old Mi. The latter knew that he

was just an ordinary human a month ago, only embarking on the journey of

a cultivator through the cultivation technique the latter imparted to him.

“How did you raise your cultivation that quickly?” Seeing how Zu An

wasn’t answering, Old Mi repeated his question once more, but his tone was

much more impatient this time around.

“I think it’s because I’m still young, that’s why I’m cultivating a bit faster?”

It took Zu An some effort to squeeze out an excuse.

However, Old Mi simply glared at him coldly, not bothering to respond at

all.

Zu An’s face heated up. This excuse sounded ridiculous even to him. So, he

pondered once again before replying, “I entered the academy. The academy

distributes ki stones to each of us to use in our cultivation. On top of that,

the ki in the academy is much richer, so…”

Before he could finish his words, Old Mi had already interjected once more,

“Even with ki stones, there’s no way you could have progressed that

quickly. Besides, the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra relies mainly on getting beaten

up to raise your cultivation. Ki stones have limited effectiveness for you.”

Zu An was surprised to hear those words. Old Mi mentioned that ki stones

had limited effectiveness, not that it was completely useless. Yet, why did it

not work for him?

He thought about how the system had turned the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra

into a series of formations within his body. Could it be that the way he was

practicing the cultivation technique was different from how it was supposed

to be, resulting in some divergence? As a result of that, he could only raise

his cultivation through getting beaten up or consuming Ki Fruits.

Thinking deeper into it, he felt that it wasn’t too bad since Ki Fruits were

much easier to obtain than ki stones.

While Zu An was distracted, Old Mi had finally lost his patience. He

reached out to grab Zu An’s hand to check on his condition personally.

Zu An was still feeling gleeful at having defeated two experts on the

dueling ring, but to his astonishment, he couldn’t even dodge a casual grab

from Old Mi. He tried to pull his arm out, but Old Mi’s hand was like a

metal claw firmly latched on.

“The hell! Just how powerful is this old man?” Zu An was alarmed.

“Hm?” exclaimed Old Mi in surprise. He flicked his long fingernail on Zu

An’s fingertip and created a small incision. Then, he squeezed out a small

droplet of blood.

He brought the droplet of blood up to his nose to have a whiff of it, and his

body immediately jolted in shock. He looked at Zu An with eyes filled with

disbelief as he asked, “Transcendent class aptitude?”

Zu An’s heart skipped a beat. He remembered the warning Jiang Luofu had

given him regarding how he shouldn’t reveal his aptitude level to others.

So, he feigned ignorance and said, “What transcendent class aptitude?”

However, Old Mi disregarded his words and reached out to grab his collars.

He looked at Zu An with heated eyes as he asked anxiously, “What

happened to you during this period of time? How did your aptitude

suddenly rise by so much?”

He was certain that Zu An’s aptitude was only at lower Ding a month ago,

yet it suddenly rose to the legendary transcendent class aptitude. How could

he possibly not be surprised?

Zu An knew that it was impossible for him to hide it anymore, so he

quickly cooked up an excuse and said, “I’m not too sure either. I think it

might be related to that wild fruit I ate the last time I was at the city

suburbs.”

“What wild fruit?” Old Mi asked on. “How does it look like? Describe it to

me.”

“Errr…” Zu An hesitated for a moment before continuing on. “It’s oval in

shape, and its exterior is red in color. The fruit is covered with scalelike

protrusions with sharp tips. The fruit has a thick skin that feels a bit wax,

and its flesh is red in color. There are lots of black bits embedded in its

flesh…”

Picturing the fruit based on Zu An’s description, Old Mi began murmuring

under his breath. Could it be the legendary Dhara Scales? No, that isn’t

right. The color of the flesh is a little different. Cold it be the Redcloud

Divine Fruit then? The exterior looks different though. What could it

possibly be…”

Zu An almost burst into laughter there and then. You’d be a god if you

could guess it. That’s a dragonfruit from my previous life! I don’t think I’ve

heard of it anywhere ever since arriving in this world.

“It looks like you’ve stumbled upon a fortuitous encounter, obtaining a fruit

that could alter your aptitude. However, it’s hard for me to imagine why a

treasure of such a tier would actually be in the Hidden Dragon Mountain,”

said Old Mi.

Zu An chuckled in response, “I guess dumb people are compensated by

their luck.”

A frightening smile surfaced on Old Mi’s aged face. He patted Zu An’s

shoulder and said, “Wonderful. The higher your aptitude, the more

heartened I am.”

“Thank you for your concern, elder,” replied Zu An. He looked at this still

bleeding fingertip as he reassessed his evaluation of Old Mi. All along, he

thought of Old Mi as a ‘grandfather gift pack’ accorded to newbie

transmigrators so as to kick them off on their journey. However, it looked

like he was sorely mistaken here. There was no one who would selflessly

impart their teachings to a stranger for no good reason…

“You didn’t use the Sunflower Phantasm in the tournament today, right?”

asked Old Mi.

“I didn’t. I used the modified version you imparted to me, and it looks like

it was more than enough.” Had it been before, Zu An might have just

confessed that he had used a move from the Sunflower Phantasm at the very

last instant in order to deal with Yuan Wenji, but he felt that he couldn’t

trust Old Mi anymore.

“That’s good,” replied Old Mi with a nod. He also thought that his

movement skill would be more than enough to deal with most low-level

cultivators, so he didn’t harbor any doubts toward Zu An’s words. “Alright,

you should rest for now.”

After saying those words, he began staggering his way out. Despite his

seemingly slow movements, it took only a few moments for his silhouette

to completely vanish from view.

Zu An finally heaved a long sigh of relief. Somehow, being in Old Mi’s

presence made him feel incredibly pressured.

It looks like I need to prepare a countermeasure against Old Mi…

There was a problem here though. The pressure that Old Mi exerted on him

earlier was even greater than what he had felt from Yuan Zhengchu and the

others when they charged at him earlier today. This proved that Old Mi was

indubitably an incredibly powerful cultivator, and this only left Zu An’s

heart feeling even heavier.

Heaving a deep sigh, he closed his door.

As per usual, he started off with washing his hands and face. Now that he

was a bit more well-to-do, he even bought from fragrance and joss sticks in

order to upgrade his ritual. As they say, the Goddess of Luck shines on

those who are prepared.

Once all preparatory work was completed, Zu An dived into his lottery. He

had accumulated a total of 58,835 Rage points thus far. Most of it had come

from the splash damage he had dealt upon the spectators. Indeed, a good

performance needed to be enjoyed by a huge audience!

Should I try to hug Jiang Luofu’s leg in public next time?

Zu An quickly dispelled that thought from his mind. While he would surely

make a killing out of his Rage points, he might just end up dead from that.

He drew the lottery as per usual, but he didn’t obtain anything special. His

total loot was only 59 Ki Fruits, which was pretty disappointing though it

was within expectations. He swallowed the Ki Fruits and filled the fourth

formation by roughly a third.

Seeing this, he couldn’t help but sigh deeply. He was only at the fourth step

of the third rank, but the amount of Rage points he needed to make a

breakthrough was already an astronomical sum. He couldn’t imagine how

he could possibly rake up enough Rage points for subsequent

breakthroughs.

All of a sudden, someone knocked on his door, and Cheng Shouping’s

fawning voice sounded, “Young master, let’s go redeem the bet paper. It’s

1,000,000 silver taels!”

Zu An’s eyes immediately lit up as his low spirits cleared up in an instant.

There had been too many things going on that he nearly forgot about this.

“Let’s go!”

Zu An charged out of the door, only to quickly return back in. “No, this

won’t do. I need to find someone to accompany me.”

While his winnings this time around wasn’t as exaggerated as what he had

earned from the Silverhook Casino the last time around, it was still no small

sum. Just the few guards from the Chu clan might not be sufficient to get

the matter done. He needed to find a reliable backing here.

In the end, he felt that his wife was still the most reliable one of all. After

the previous incident, she had experience handling things relating to the

casino now.

…

Meanwhile, Chu Chuyan was in the midst of circulating her ki through her

body to recuperate from her injuries. All of a sudden, an unnatural tinge of

redness filler her face, and she abruptly lurched forward and sprouted a

mouthful of blood. Shockingly, there were a few small shards of ice in her

blood.

Confusion flickered across her face as she murmured in disbelief, “How

could this be…”

“Honey, honey~” It was then that a familiar, light-hearted voice sounded

from the outside.

She quickly waved her sleeves, and the puddle of blood vanished without a

trace. Following that, Zu An barged right in. “Hm? Honey, what are you

doing lying on the bed in the middle of the day? Are you trying to invite me

to join you?”

Chu Chuyan nearly choked. It’s like this fellow is incapable of spouting

anything good. “What are you doing here?”

Zu An said with a sheepish smile, “I want to invite you out for a walk.”

Chu Chuyan closed her eyes once more as she replied placidly, “I’ll pass.”

She still remembered how she was duped by Zu An the last time around and

ended up becoming a spectacle on the street. She reckoned that he was

doing the same this time around to satisfy his vanity.

“Err… Alright, I’ll be honest with you. I’m heading down to a casino to

collect a payment, but I’m afraid that they might attempt to pull something.

I’ll feel more assured with you by my side,” said Zu An with a smile. “I’ll

split a portion of it with you!”

“You went to gamble again?” Chu Chuyan opened her eyes right away and

stared at Zu An in displeasure.

“It’s not a gamble; I’m just collecting school fees. You see, they actually

dared to put a ridiculous 1:100 payout on me! As an arithmetic teacher, I

feel obliged to teach them basic math so that they’ll understand the

importance of risk control in the case of freak accidents. It’s not like I’m

taking a lot from them anyway,” answered Zu An vehemently.

“You can phrase it however you want to, but it doesn’t change the fact that

you’re gambling,” Chu Chuyan harrumphed. “The Chu clan has strict rules

against gambling. I already made an exception by following you to the

Silverhook Casino the last time around; there’s no way I’ll do it again.”

“At least do it on the account that I’ve made such a huge contribution to the

Chu clan. I mean, instead of rewarding my merits, you all ended up

interrogating me instead. Now, you wouldn’t even accompany me out for a

walk. Hmph, it looks like there’s no point staying at the Chu clan

anymore!” Zu An harrumphed lividly before stomping his way out.

“Where are you going?” Taken aback by Zu An’s sudden tantrum, Chu

Chuyan asked in bewilderment.

“I’m going to announce to the world that we’re divorcing one another!” Zu

An waved his hand as he continued heading out without the slightest

hesitation.

“Come back here!” Chu Chuyan cried out in alarm.

It wasn’t easy for her to find a fitting husband to shield her from the other

pursuers aiming for the Chu clan. If Zu An were to leave, how in the world

was she going to find another one?

Besides, even if she could find someone who fit the criteria, surely she, as

the proud first miss of the Chu clan, couldn’t possibly marry twice, right?

That would be a huge embarrassment, as well as a scandal.

However, Zu An paid her no heed at all. He continued heading out as if he

couldn’t hear her. So, Chu Chuyan bit her lips and dashed right in front to

stop him. “Fine fine, I’ll accompany you, alright?”

“Really?” It was hard for Zu An to stop his lips from curling up. He never

thought that the usual tricks used by vixens in soap operas would be

effective even for men. If he refuses, cry. If crying doesn’t work, throw a

tantrum. If even throwing a tantrum doesn’t work, threaten him with your

life!

“Of course!” replied Chu Chuyan. “Only this time!”

Zu An contemplated for a moment longer before adding, “I also want to

sleep with you later tonight. Otherwise, I’ll announce to the world that

we’re divorcing one another!”

“Go ahead then!” Chu Chuyan eyed Zu An coldly.

Zu An nearly choked. Hey, you are supposed to follow the script here. “We

don’t need to share a bed. Even just being in the same room is fine with

me.”

Chu Chuyan turned around and walked off, saying, “If you don’t catch up, I

won’t even bother going to the casino with you.”

“Wait a moment, does that mean that you’re agreeing to my request?”

“Shut up!”

…

Having learned from her previous lesson, Chu Chuyan insisted on taking

the carriage this time around. It didn’t take them long to arrive at the

entrance of the Four Seas Casino. This was where Cheng Shouping made

his bet the last time around.

“Go and redeem the prize,” Zu An passed the bet paper to Cheng Shouping

and instructed.

“Alright!” Cheng Shouping’s eyes immediately lit up. He was more than

willing to do fun tasks like this. He puffed up his chest and walked up to the

counter, smacking the bet paper down loudly. With a voice loud enough for

everyone in the casino to hear, he shouted, “Manager, I’ve struck the lottery.

Pay up my 1,000,000 silver taels!”

As one could expect, it immediately caught the attention of everyone in the

casino.

The manager’s face immediately darkened. He shot a look at the person

behind him before gritting his teeth. He took the bet paper and tore it into

shreds, saying, “Where did this swindler come from? How dare you take a

fake bet paper to fool us? Men, chase him out!”

Chapter 127: You're In Trouble

Cheng Shouping was bewildered. He had marched off to the counter

gleefully to collect his money, thinking that the young master would reward

him handsomely for his efforts. Yet, he actually messed everything up.

It was a million silver taels they were talking about here!

Cheng Shouping’s eyes immediately reddened in agitation. With a cry of

despair, he charged forward to brawl with the manager, only to be swiftly

dragged out by the guards of the Four Seas Casino.

“Where did this lunatic come from? Beat him up real good so that even his

mother wouldn’t recognize him!” The manager covered his swollen eyes as

he pointed his finger at Cheng Shouping angrily.

“Oh? Is this how the Four Seas Casino treats its customers? Not only are

you all shrinking payment, you even try to turn things around your

customers to frame them, even attempting to beat them to death?” a sharp

voice sounded as Zu An strutted into the casino imposingly.

Beside him, Chu Chuyan also saw the pitiful plight Cheng Shouping was in,

and her gaze turned cold. Even though she wasn’t too fond of Cheng

Shouping, he was still a member of the Chu clan. She wouldn’t allow

outsiders to just trample all over him.

Receiving Chu Chuyan’s subtle gesture, the Chu clan’s guards immediately

rushed forward to beat down the guards of the Four Seas Casino, saving

Cheng Shouping from their clutches.

“Waaa, this woman is really pretty!”

“Are you blind? Don’t you recognize the first miss of the Chu clan?”

“As expected of Brightmoon City’s number one beauty!”

“But what are they doing here? Doesn’t the Chu clan have strict rules

against gambling?”

…

The others in the casino, as well as passers-by, immediately rushed over to

watch the commotion.

Cheng Shouping staggered over to Zu An’s side with a swollen face. He

hugged the latter’s thigh as he cried out indignantly, “Young master, that

bastard over there has torn up the bet paper!”

Zu An’s eyelids twitched. “Stop using my clothes as a tissue paper to wipe

off your snot.”

Seeing that Chu Chuyan was here too, the manager from the Four Seas

Casino dared not to put on airs. He quickly stepped forward to welcome her

with a smile, but his bruised eye made his appearance rather comedic.

“Young miss Chu, what brings you here today? I’m the manager of this

casino, Ol’ Third Du. Pardon me my lack of an appropriate welcome.”

Chu Chuyan harrumphed coldly and said, “If I hadn’t come here, I wouldn’t

have known how little you thought of the people from our Chu clan.”

“I dare not to!” Ol’ Third Du hurriedly replied with a nervous smile. “I

didn’t know he had come under your orders, so please forgive me for my

earlier act of disrespect.”

Zu An waved his hand impatiently. “Enough. Don’t waste our time with

such pleasantries. Hurry up and pay the million silver taels you owe us.”

Ol’ Third Du put on a surprised look as he asked, “Young master Zu, I’m

afraid that I don’t quite understand what you’re saying. The bet paper your

servant brought to us is fake, so I’m unable to cash it out for you.”

“Whether the bet paper is real or not, you should have had everyone to

testify for it. Don’t you think that it was highly inappropriate for you to tear

it up just like that? That’s an act of a guilty conscience,” said Zu An coldly.

Those words were met with the fervent agreement of the crowd. The action

of Ol’ Third Du was suspicious in their eyes too.

However, Ol’ Third Du had already prepared an answer to that. “I thought

that this servant was falsifying the bet paper behind your back. It was out of

consideration of the reputation of the Chu clan that I tore the bet paper on

the spot. Otherwise, it might lead to unnecessary gossip. I didn’t know that

he was doing it under your orders.”

Since the bet paper had been destroyed, there was no way for Zu An to

disprove his words anymore. Not to mention, his words made perfect sense

too.

As expected, those in the crowd immediately turned doubtful eyes toward

Zu An.

“Oh? You’re even trying to turn the tables on me, huh?” Zu An burst into

laughter. “It’s fortunate that I made preparations in advance. I knew that

you would try to pull something like that, so I kept the real bet paper with

me.”

Zu An took out the real bet paper from his robe and displayed it before

everyone else. “What a pity that your guilty conscience prevented you from

even taking a close look at the bet paper, resulting in such an elementary

mistake.”

“…” Ol’ Third Du.

You have successfully trolled Ol’ Third Du for +666 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Zheng Dan for +666 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Sang Qian for +666 Rage!

Zu An subconsciously glanced at the tightly shut doors behind the counter.

Zheng Dan and Sang Qian are indeed hiding inside. It looks like this is one

of the Zheng clan’s businesses. It was wondering why Zheng Dan kept

trying to get close to me previously, but it turns out that she does have

ulterior motives in mind. Most likely, she was aiming for the 7,500,000

silver taels debt note I have on the Silverhook Casino, hoping to use it to

devour the Plum Blossom Sect’s businesses.

Still, I must say that Sang Qian really went all out this time around. He even

had his fiancée lay a honey trap for me, casually hugging and touching me.

Ey, that fellow can’t have some sort of weird cuckold fantasies, does he?

Oh my! If that’s the case, I really should… make a friend out of him!

In any case, it means that they are unaware that the 7,500,000 silver taels is

no longer on me anymore. I should tell Jiang Luofu to keep this matter

hidden for the moment. It’ll be interesting to see the two of them

desperately struggling, only to realize that it was all in vain.

It was also then that Chu Chuyan spoke up, “It’s very easy to discern the

authenticity of a bet paper. Casinos would pay careful heed to the material

of the paper, the quality of the ink, and the handwriting on it so as to

prevent forgery, and a record of it will be kept in the magistrate’s office so

as to avoid contention. On top of that, every casino would keep a spare

copy of the bet paper for documentation purposes. I shall invite the vice

magistrate over to look through your accounting book and judge this matter

fairly.”

As one of the decision-makers in the Chu clan, she had to be well-versed

with how businesses operated and the laws of the country.

“Young miss Chu, please wait a moment!” It was then that someone

suddenly ran out. “I am the owner of the Four Seas Casino, Zheng Guanxi.

It’s an honor to have Chu First Miss and young master Zu visiting our

premises.”

There was no way the Zheng clan would allow them to go to the vice

magistrate for this. They were clearly at fault here, and things would be

made clear with just a bit of investigation. On top of that, if the vice

magistrate really ran through their accounting books, they could stand to

lose far more than just a million silver taels.

“You’re the owner of the Four Seas Casino?” Zu An shot a glance at the

inner rooms of the casino as he spoke.

It looks like Zheng Dan and Sang Qian aren’t intending to come out. But

again, given their lofty standing, they can’t possibly openly intervene in the

matters relating to the casino or else it could lower their standing. It was

only normal for them to find someone else to take care of matters.

“Yes, I am!” replied Zheng Guanxi with an amicable smile.

“Zheng? Are you from the Zheng clan?” asked Zu An.

“No no no, of course not. I have nothing to do with the Zheng clan at all.

How could someone as humble as me possibly be related to the great Zheng

clan?” Zheng Guanxi denied it right away.

Should I have used another name instead? Otherwise, it’s very easy for

others to see through my background. But again, it’s much easier for me to

settle problems when I bring the Zheng clan into the picture to pressure

others. Ah, this is really a dilemma.

“I don’t care which clan you’re from. Just tell me, how are you intending to

resolve this matter?” asked Zu An.

“Yes, of course.” Zheng Guanxi took out a handkerchief and dabbed away

the small beads of sweat forming on his forehead. “It was all Ol’ Third Du

acting on his own accord earlier. Our casino is unaware of the matter. I

reckon that he’s coveting this huge wealth.”

“???” Ol’ Third Du.

Zheng Guanxi wasn’t about to give Ol’ Third Du a chance to explain at all.

“Men, drag him down and bring him to the vice magistrate!”

Ol’ Third Du immediately panicked. “You can’t do this to me! I’m just

following the young miss’…”

Kacha!

However, the guards were already prepared for this. With a single punch,

they dislocated Ol’ Third Du’s lower jaw, causing his words to immediately

turn into mumble jumble. There was no way to hear him clearly anymore.

“There’s no need for you to put up a pretense before me. Give me a straight

answer, are you planning to pay up or not?” Zu An harrumphed.

“It goes without saying that we’ll pay you whatever you have earned!”

There was still a smile on Zheng Guanxi’s face, but his hands were

trembling. This was a million silver taels they were talking about here! The

Four Seas Casino hadn’t even earned that much money ever since its

establishment. “It’s just that the sum is too big for us to raise right away.

Could we write down a debt note for you first?”

“Sure, but I’ll be expecting an annual interest rate of 40%,” replied Zu An

with a nod.

Zheng Guanxi was shocked. “But you only demanded 10% from the

Silverhook Casino back then!”

“That’s a different story. They owe me 7,500,000 silver taels and are unable

to raise the money within a short period of time. However, the sum you owe

me is much lower. Are you trying to tell me that your casino doesn’t have

that much money despite having accepted my bet?” Zu An harrumphed.

It was fortunate that he had only betted 10,000 silver taels back then.

Otherwise, he might not be able to get his money back.

“That’s right! Why the heck are you operating a casino when you can’t even

pay your own customers?”

“I think that Ol’ Third Du’s action was simply a sign of the Four Seas

Casino shirking payment!”

“Wow, it looks like the drafted son-in-law of the Chu clan is the nemesis of

all casinos.”

“We should follow his lead next time around. He’s our lighthouse toward

prosperity!”

…

The crowd pointed their fingers at Zheng Guanxi and criticized him,

leaving him feeling incredibly flustered. All of a sudden, his body jerked a

little, as if someone had suddenly whispered in his ears. Then, he turned to

Zu An and said, “How about this? We’ll first pay you half of your winnings

first, and as for the rest, we’ll write it down as a debt at a 20% interest rate.

How does that sound?”

Zu An finally nodded in satisfaction. “You should have done that right from

the start! Bring the money out!”

He hadn’t expected to be able to collect the full sum of money right away,

so receiving 500,000 silver taels on the sum was already pretty good for

him. One must know that he had only managed to squeeze 150,000 silver

taels out of the Silverhook Casino the previous time.

In the casino’s secret room, Sang Qian gritted his teeth as he muttered

furiously, “I really want to smash my fist into that man’s face.”

Zheng Dan shook her head helplessly and said, “He has Chu First Miss by

his side. You won’t be able to touch him.”

Sang Qian eyed Zheng Dan suspiciously as he asked, “Why don’t you seem

angry at all?”

“What’s there to get angry about? Our plan is to get close to him to steal the

debt note anyway,” replied Zheng Dan as she looked at Zu An intently

through the cracks of the door. “We’re just tucking our money with him for

the time being. It won’t be long before we reclaim what we have lost and

even more.”

Sang Qian nodded in agreement, “We’re counting on you then. You must

make sure to protect yourself well. Remember, you mustn’t allow him to

take advantage of you.”

“I know,” replied Zheng Dan.

“Also, we should make some adjustments to the rules of the casino. We

shouldn’t offer such a high payout rate, and we should also put a cap on

high payout bets. Otherwise, we might just be bankrupted by such freak

accidents,” said Sang Qian.

He couldn’t let his wife clean up after him every single time. In the last few

days, for some reason, he had been feeling jittery inside, as if he was going

to get cuckolded.

…

After collecting their money and debt note, Zu An and the others prepared

to return back to the estate. Zu An casually entrusted his banknotes over to

Cheng Shouping, and it made the latter so excited that his hands wouldn’t

stop trembling.

Zu An distributed some of the notes over to the guards too. The guards were

hesitant to accept it at first, but seeing that Chu Chuyan wasn’t saying

anything, they finally accepted it joyously. All of them had families to raise

too, so additional money was naturally welcomed.

“Young master Zu, you look dashing today!”

“For some reason, he’s looking more and more compatible with our first

miss.”

“In consideration of this banknote, I’ll reluctantly agree with that statement

just this once.”

…

Zu An stuffed a stack of banknotes into Chu Chuyan’s hands too. “Here,

your share.”

However, Chu Chuyan didn’t accept it. “I don’t need it.”

“What are you getting so courteous for? You played a huge part in

collecting the debt too.” Zu An laughed heartily. “Now that I’m rich, it’s my

turn to provide for you!”

“…” Chu Chuyan.

If he continues acting so haughtily, I think I really might give this fellow a

good beating.

Even after returning back to the Chu Estate, Zu An remained so overjoyed

that he didn’t sleep for the entire night. When he woke up the following

day, he felt completely refreshed. The blue sky filled with white clouds

looked more beautiful than ever, and even the air felt more refreshing than

usual.

He was just about to set off to the academy to embark on another fruitful

day when a bunch of constables suddenly charged into his residence and

bellowed, “Zu An! You’re to follow us back to the yamen to be trialed for

your crimes!” [1]

1. Yamen is the law enforcement department in ancient China, where trials

are held under the supervision of an official, often the vice magistrate or

magistrate himself.

Chapter 128: Dying Message

Zu An was stunned. He never thought that a day would come where a law-

abiding citizen like him would be arrested by the police.

Trialed for my crimes? What crimes?

While he was still overwhelmed by the situation, the constables had already

fastened his hands behind his back with a pair of metal shackles. It was

fortunate that he was protected by the guards of the Chu clan, who wouldn’t

allow him to be taken away so easily by the constables, especially after

accepting his money the previous day.

“Zu An, are you trying to resist arrest here?” asked the head constable

coldly.

Zu An finally snapped out of his daze.

Having been in this world for some time, he knew just how powerful the

royal court was. He couldn’t allow things to proceed down this direction.

So, he stepped forward and stopped the Chu clan’s guards first before

asking, “You should give me a reason at the very least. I can’t possibly

allow myself to be taken away without any justifications, right?”

“You shouldn’t have done it in the first place if you don’t want others to

know of it.” The head constable pointed to the side. “You can’t hear it?”

Zu An turned his head sideward, only to be shocked by what he saw. A

huge crowd was rushing in his direction with indignant looks on their faces,

roaring furiously.

“Murderers have to pay for their crimes!”

“The Chu clan oppresses the people and condones the vile deeds of their

son-in-law!”

…

Looking at those banners that wrote stuff like ‘Bring justice back to the

Great Zhou Dynasty’ and ‘Commoners’ lives matter’, Zu An couldn’t help

but frown. He felt like he had been mired into a huge scheme.

It was then that Chu Zhongtian, Qin Wanru, Chu Chuyan, and the others

rushed out. Chu Huanzhao was still in the estate because she was still

recuperating from her injuries, but Chu Zhongtian stopped her from coming

out.

“What happened?” Chu Zhongtian ordered his men to stop the rioting

crowd before turning to the head constable with a cold look in his eyes.

The attitude of the head constable immediately became much more

amicable. “Brightmoon Duke, Zu An is under suspicion for murdering

Official Yang Wei and Commoners Plum Blossom Twelve and Plum

Blossom Thirteen. The city lord has ordered us to arrest him to be trialed.”

Everyone in the Chu clan was shocked to hear those words. It was one thing

for Plum Blossom Twelve and Plum Blossom Thirteen to be killed, but

Yang Wei’s death was quite a huge issue. He might be a low-ranking

official, but he was still a subordinate of the royal court.

Zu An’s mind was quickly whirred into action. All three people had

previous conflicts with him, so their deaths hinted strongly at a ploy

directed toward him.

“Nonsense! Ah Zu has been in our Chu Estate all this while, so how could

he possibly kill anyone?” Chu Zhongtian could also tell that it was an

attempt to frame Zu An.

“We’re just acting according to the city lord’s orders. Brightmoon Duke, I’ll

have to humbly ask you not to make things difficult for us.”

However, the crowd only grew more inflamed after seeing how the

constables were bowing down to the Chu clan.

“Is the Chu clan trying to cover for a murderer?”

“Does the laws not apply to the Chu clan?”

“Where has the justice of our Great Zhou Dynasty gone to?”

…

It was always easy to rile up the populace, especially when it came to acts

of injustice from the rich and the powerful. Everyone was always quick to

hop onto the bandwagon, speaking up indignantly as if they had suffered

grievances themselves. This was simply how humans were.

Chu Zhongtian realized that this matter would be hard to deal with. It would

be a huge matter if the people were to turn against the Chu clan against him

over this. “Very well, I’ll follow you all back to the yamen. I would like to

see how you intend to judge this case!”

He patted Zu An’s shoulder and said, “Ah Zu, don’t worry. As long as I’m

here, I won’t let you suffer any grievances!”

He was a duke of the country after all. With him keeping an eye on the

proceedings, the others wouldn’t dare to carelessly make a ruling on the

case.

Zu An felt a surge of warmth into his heart. My father-in-law is truly a

decent person.

Chu Zhongtian told Qin Wanru to hold the fort in the Chu Estate and be

prepared to send reinforcements whenever required before leading a group

of guards over to the yamen.

Chu Chuyan was intending to follow as well, only to be stopped by Zu An.

“I need you to find a person for me. Relay these words to her…”

Chu Chuyan was taken aback by the abrupt request, but she nodded in

response before swiftly disappearing amidst the crowd.

Cheng Shouping also quickly rushed up to Zu An’s side fawningly, asked,

“Young master, young master! Is there anything I can help you with? I’ll be

willing to brave through a sea of flame for you as long as you give the

word!”

“Yes, I do have something I need you to do,” replied Zu An.

Cheng Shouping’s eyes lit up right away. “What is it?”

“Zip up your mouth.”

“… Orh.”

Unless Zu An was tired of living, there was no way he would entrust

anything important to the troublemaking Cheng Shouping anymore. He

needed Chu Chuyan to deal with it personally in order to give him peace of

mind. As for Cheng Shouping… all he needed to do was to disgust his

opponents when the time came.

As Chu Zhongtian was tagging along too, the guards didn’t insist on

shackling Zu An up. Just like that, they swiftly made their way toward the

yamen.

City Lord Xie Yi and Vice Magistrate Pang Chun personally stepped

forward to welcome them, saying, “What brings Brightmoon Duke here

today?”

“You’ve already sent your men to arrest my son-in-law, so how can I not

come by personally?” Chu Zhongtian harrumphed.

Xie Yi shook his head bitterly and said, “Someone knocked on the drums of

the yamen, crying out his grievances. On top of that, an official is even

implicated in the matter. Given the circumstances, I have no other choice

than to hold a trial.” [1]

“Who’s the one who knocked on the drums?” asked Chu Zhongtian.

He had to at least figure out who his enemy was here first.

As they headed into the yamen, Xie Yi replied with a lowered voice, “It’s

Yang Wei’s widow and the relatives of Plum Blossom Twelve and Plum

Blossom Thirteen. Mei Chaofeng is here too.”

Chu Zhongtian’s eyes narrowed. “It looks like the Plum Blossom Sect is

determined to turn against our Chu clan. I sure do wonder where their

courage is coming from.”

“Don’t get careless. They seem to be confident this time around,” reminded

Xie Yi.

Once they entered the court, solemnity swiftly returned to Xie Yi’s face as

he stopped talking altogether.

Zu An scanned the surroundings, only to see two long horizontal banners

that wrote ‘Laws made of our virtues, enforced through discipline’. It gave

an air of severity to the court.

Xie Yi and Pang Chun headed toward the front of the court, where their

seats were located. Similar to how it was depicted in historical dramas,

there were two rows of guards standing by the sides of the court, standing

on attention with long metal poles in their hands.

There were several people kneeling before the court. One of them was a

middle-aged woman, who appeared to be Yang Wei’s wife from her fairly

well-to-do attire. The others appeared to be farmers, which likely made

them family members of Plum Blossom Twelve and Plum Blossom

Thirteen.

Mei Chaofeng was standing at one side, looking at Zu An with utterly cold

eyes.

Seeing this set-up, Zu An smiled quietly in anticipation. Very well, show

me what you’ve got then.

“Since the plaintiffs and the defendant are already present, I hereby declare

the commencement…” Xie Yi was just about to declare the commencement

of the trials when a commotion sounded outside.

“Governor Sang has arrived!”

Astonished, Xie Yi quickly got up with Pang Chun and the other

subordinate officials to greet Sang Hong. Casual laughter could be heard

from the entrance as Sang Hong’s voice sounded, “Lord Xie, there’s no

need for you to rise. You’re the one in charge of the court proceedings. I’m

here just to spectate.”

Chu Zhongtian, on the other hand, was much less polite. “Lord Sang, I

really see you everywhere I go.”

It was just a day ago when Sang Hong openly sided with the Yuan clan, and

now, he was here to deal with his son-in-law. Even the most patient man in

the world would lose his temper after being picked on time and time again.

Toward that, Sang Hong calmly replied, “I should have returned to my

office, but I heard that something major has happened in the city. After

quickly looking into it, I realized that it involves the Chu clan. Out of

concern, I came here to take a look lest the civilians claim that the law of

our Great Zhou Dynasty sides with those in power. Brightmoon Duke,

surely you wouldn’t mind, right?”

Seeing that Sang Hong was pressuring him with the law, Chu Zhongtian

replied calmly, “No one is blind here. I won’t stand idly if someone tries to

distort the facts.”

Sang Hong laughed at those words. “Of course, of course. Everything will

be dealt with according to the law. I believe that Lord Xie will handle the

case promptly.”

That wily old fox!, Xie Yi cursed under his breath. This put him in a

quandary. That being said, as long as he judged the matter fairly, neither

sides would be able to fault him.

It was then that Zu An spoke up, “I understand that Governor Sang is here

to ensure the fairness of the procedure, but may I know in what capacity is

young master Shi here to spectate the proceedings? Is he an official?”

He had sharply noticed that Shi Kun had come together with Sang Hong.

“My father is the Minister of War…” replied Shi Kun calmly.

But before he could finish his words, Zu An had already interjected sharply,

“I’m asking you if you’re an official. Why are you mentioning your father

instead? Do you have nothing else to speak of other than your father?”

“You!!” Shi Kun’s face immediately reddened in anger. With his

background and his reputation, he was treated like a VIP no matter where

he went. No one had ever tried to put him down in public in such a manner

before.

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +500 Rage!

“What do you mean by ‘you’? You should watch the way you address your

teacher. Is that how you were brought up in the Shi clan?” Zu An’s mouth

was like a relentless machine gun, shooting out bullets endlessly.

Shi Kun felt a little light-headed. Why am I being interrogated here instead?

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +653 Rage!

“Scoundrel, how dare a mere child like you dare to sully the name of the

Shi clan!” Shi Lezhi stood forth from Shi Kun’s side to bellow at Zu An. He

released his powerful aura to intimidate the latter.

However, Chu Zhongtian immediately waved his hand to dispel Shi Lezhi’s

aura, saying, “You should think twice before attempting to strongarm others

in the court. Besides, Ah Zu isn’t wrong either. He’s a teacher at the

academy. It’s only right for young master Shi to pay respects to him as a

student.”

Shi Kun’s face turned completely red. He felt incredibly stifled. There was

no way he could bring himself to bow down politely to Zu An in the

capacity of a student before so many people. That would be a stain on his

reputation!

Snow felt an urge to step forward to speak on her young master’s behalf,

but somehow, she felt guilt-ridden facing her old masters once more,

leaving her at a loss.

Fortunately for Shi Kun, Sang Hong stepped in at this moment, “Zu An is

in the position of a plaintiff now. Until he’s finally cleared of his charges,

it’d be inappropriate to view him as a teacher of the academy. I believe that

we should skip the formality for now. As for young master Shi, it’s indeed

inappropriate for him to view the proceedings without an official position.

He shall stand by the doorway for now.”

Sang Hong had taken on an impartial position, putting down both sides

together. So, no one could raise any doubts against him.

It was just that Shi Kun had expected to be able to comfortably rest on a

seat while watching the drama in the front rows, only to be shoved in

together with the rest of the populace. It made him feel both humiliated and

indignant.

To be fair, Shi Lezhi had secretly released his aura to prevent anyone from

coming close to Shi Kun, giving him some privacy. But even so, Shi Kun’s

face remained incredibly livid.

Zu An!!! Celebrate your little victory while you can. I’ll make sure that

you’ll cry your eyes out later on!

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +444 Rage!

“Silence!” Seeing that Chu Zhongtian and Sang Hong had settled down in

their positions, Xie Yi started off by silencing the crowd before slamming a

wooden brick onto the table, saying, “Zu An, do you plead guilty?” [2]

Zu An shrugged leisurely as he replied, “What am I guilty of?”

An opulently-dressed middle-aged woman pointed her finger at Zu An and

bellowed, “Zu An, how vicious you are! Despite having defeated my

husband in a competition in the academy, you still weren’t satisfied and

viciously assassinated him! Milords, you have to redress my grievances!”

The middle-aged woman proceeded on to bawl pitifully, but her reactions

did nothing to faze Zu An. Instead, he asked calmly, “What does Yang

Wei’s death have to do with me?”

Xie Yi coughed softly and said, “Lord Yang left a dying message that points

you out as the murderer.”

1. In the past, there would be a drum placed outside the yamen, where

civilians could knock on it and request for a trial so as to have their

grievances redressed.

2. Just like how modern-day judges use gavels, the hammer to gather

everyone’s attention, in ancient China, the magistrate used a wooden brick

called Jing Tang Mu, literally translated to ‘wood that disrupts the court’.

Chapter 129: Blessed By the

Wisdom of Brilliant Detectives

“Dying message?” Zu An frowned.

Vice Magistrate Pang Chun elaborated more on the matter, “The deceased,

Yang Wei, wrote down a ‘Zu’ word before he passed away. In view of the

conflict you had with him two days ago in the academy, as well as the fact

that there’s no one else who goes by the surname ‘Zu’ in the entire

Brightmoon City, we’re left with no choice but to deduce that the person

he’s referring to in his dying message is you.”

Even Chu Zhongtian found himself unable to remain calm upon hearing

about the dying message, but Zu An forced himself to remain composed.

He knew that it was exactly at times like this that he shouldn’t panic. He

had seen far too many dramas where the plaintiff just kept crying ‘I’m

being framed’ and ‘I’m innocent’ to know that it was futile to do so.

He took some time to ponder over the matter before saying, “There should

be a motive behind murder. I have no reason to kill Yang Wei.”

“No reason? You had a conflict with Yang Wei in the academy, and there

are several hundred people who can bear testimony to that! You harbored

hatred in your heart, so you assassinated my husband for that. You’re a vile

man through and through!” Yang Wei’s wife roared at Zu An with a face

warped with anger.

“Indeed, I did have a conflict with Yang Wei, but it was just a squabble

regarding arithmetic, not to mention, I won the bet. Principal Jiang even

appointed me as the stand-in arithmetic teacher, replacing him. On the other

hand, Yang Wei was thoroughly disgraced in public and fired from the

academy. In other words, it was a complete victory for me. Is there a reason

for me to make a move on an utter loser? It’s far more likely for Yang Wei

to make an attempt on my life than the converse,” replied Zu An.

Xie Yi and Pang Chun looked at one another and nodded in agreement.

Indeed, the killing motive made no sense here.

Chu Zhongtian also turned to look at Zu An in astonishment.

All along, he thought of his son-in-law as someone with a reckless

personality who spouted anything that came to his mind. To be honest, his

impression of Zu An didn’t change by too much despite the latter’s

outstanding performance on the dueling ring. After all, the latter was only at

the third rank in terms of cultivation, which the Chu clan had no lack of.

However, Zu An’s ability to analyze the root of the problem here truly

impressed him. He realized that he and his wife might have had a wrong

impression of Zu An all this while.

It was at this moment that Mei Chaofeng, who was still watching the show

quietly a moment ago, stepped forward and said, “That’s hard to say. We

have seen how vindictive Zu An is yesterday on the dueling ring. Yuan

Wenji had only offended him, but he sliced away the other party’s arm and

crippled his ki core. It was in line with Zu An’s character to thoroughly

exact vengeance on Lord Yang after the conflict they had with one another.”

Since it wasn’t convenient for Shi Kun to participate in the trial, Mei

Chaofeng had no choice but to intervene.

Upon hearing his words, Yang Wei’s wife seemed to have found a pillar of

support and immediately hopped on it, “Right, right! That must be the case!

Milords, please redress my grievances! My husband died a tragic death.”

The complicated situation left Xie Yi and Pang Chun frowning, not

knowing how they should handle it.

Sang Hong also joined in as well, “Zu An, how do you explain the dying

message Lord Yang left behind then?”

“Then how can you be certain that it’s Lord Yang who left that word

behind? Just think about it. If I’m the murderer, do you think that I’d allow

my victim to write my name out?” replied Zu An.

Sang Hong simply kept quiet with a smile. It was beneath him to join the

debate directly. He was just pointing the crux of the matter out for Xie Yi

and Pang Chun to handle the case on his behalf.

As expected, Pang Chun immediately spoke up, “Lord Yang’s hands were

hiding the word when we found him. It’s only normal for the murderer to

have not noticed it.”

Zu An burst into laughter. “If I may ask, which murderer would be so

careless? It’s one thing for him to leave his victim with a dying breath, but

he actually didn’t notice his victim attempting to leave a dying message

too? Does that even make sense to you?”

The spectating crowd began discussing the case through whispers too. The

arguments from both sides made sense to them.

“Silence!” Xie Yi smacked the wooden brick on the table. “Zu An, what

you said made sense, but all of the evidence is pointing to you at the

moment. Without a doubt, you’re the prime suspect. If we’re unable to find

any other evidence, I’m afraid that it would be hard to vindicate you.”

“If I may ask, when did Lord Yang die?” asked Chu Zhongtian.

“Brightmoon Duke, based on the autopsy record, he should have died

yesterday night, around the zi hour to the chou hour.”(11PM to 3AM)

“Then there’s no way it could be Ah Zu. He was resting in his estate

yesterday night. Also, due to several incidents in the past, I have allocated

several guards to protect him around the clock, so there’s no way he could

slip past my notice.”

“I see.” Xie Yi heaved a sigh of relief. If Zu An had an alibi, it would make

things far more straightforward. However, just as Xie Yi was about to make

his judgment, a voice suddenly sounded in the court.

“If I recall correctly, the testimony provided by kin of the plaintiff can only

be used as reference and not absolute evidence, right?” said Shi Kun.

Naturally, they had considered this too while they were concocting this

scheme.

Those words left Xie Yi frowning. There was indeed such a rule as there

was a good chance that family members would try to cover for one another.

Chu Zhongtian turned to Shi Kun and uttered coldly, “Are you claiming that

I’m spouting falsehoods here?”

“Brightmoon Duke, please pardon me. I’m not doubting your character

here, but given how many people there are in the Chu Estate, there’s no way

you could keep track of everyone’s whereabouts. Furthermore, Zu An has

displayed a formidable movement skill that could overwhelm even a fifth

rank cultivator on the dueling ring yesterday. Given so, it shouldn’t be too

difficult for him to circumvent the guards in the estate if he truly intended to

sneak out.”

“…” Chu Zhongtian.

Shi Kun’s arguments were perfectly logical, leaving Chu Zhongtian with no

room for argument. The crowd also immediately eyed Zu An in suspicion

as well.

Zu An turned around to look at Shi Kun and said, “Young master Shi,

you’re well-prepared. It almost looks like you were the one who prepared

this scheme to frame me.”

“I am just a concerned civilian. I don’t think that there’s anything wrong

with me stating my opinion, right?” replied Shi Kun with a smile.

Vice Magistrate Pang Chun finally spoke up, “Zu An, what else do you

have to say for yourself?”

Zu An pondered for a moment before speaking up, “I’d like to visit the

murder scene.”

May all of the great detectives of the world bless me here. Please don’t let

those detective dramas I’ve watched in my previous life, be it Justice Bao,

Di Renjie, Sherlock Holmes, or Detective Conan, be in vain. Otherwise, I

might really get done in here.

“There’s no need for you to head over to the scene personally,” replied Xie

Yi.

He gestured to his subordinate, and soon, someone brought an artifact that

resembled a mirror over. Xie Yi infused his ki into it, and an image

appeared on the surface of the mirror.

It was the scene of Yang Wei’s dead body!

Zu An was quite amazed by the technologies this world had to offer. They

actually created the equivalent of a camera in their own way, allowing them

to store and display images. It would appear that the runemasters in this

world were far more formidable than he had thought.

Zu An carefully examined the murder scene, and soon, a smile surfaced on

his lips. “Well, well! It looks like justice does exist in this world after all!”

“What do you mean?” asked Xie Yi in confusion.

The others on the court were equally bewildered as well. Even Shi Kun

began frowning, wondering if they had accidentally messed up here.

Zu An pointed to the blood words in the image and explained, “The dying

message left behind by Yang Wei was written with his right hand, but Lord

Yang is left-handed. The true murderer seems to be unaware of that,

resulting in this careless mistake.”

“Left-handed?” Pang Chun was taken aback. “I’ve known Lord Yang for

many years, but I’ve never known him to be left-handed.”

“Previously, when I was attending Yang Wei’s arithmetic class, he started

out writing with his right hand. However, when the two of us started

competing with one another, he subconsciously switched to his left hand in

a moment of nervousness. From this, it should be clear that his master hand

is his left hand. However, I reckon that most people are oblivious to that,

which is also why the true murderer erred here.

“When a man tries to leave behind an important message in his dying

breath, there was no way he would deliberately go through the trouble of

using his non-master hand. Yet, Yang Wei’s dying message was written with

his right hand instead. This should prove that the dying message is

fabricated by the true murderer.”

Xie Yi frowned at those words. He turned to Yang Wei’s wife and asked, “Is

Lord Yang left-handed?”

The middle-aged woman was bemuddled by the current turn of events, but

she still nodded anyway. “My husband is indeed left-handed. It’s out of fear

that he would be mocked that he tries to use his right hand in public, but

from time to time, he would still subconsciously resort to his left hand.”

A huge ruckus broke out as soon as those words were spoken. Even Shi

Kun was shaken too. How could he have known that they would have made

such a mistake?

Realizing that things were turning awry, Mei Chaofeng’s face warped in

shock, and he hurriedly chirped in, “Zu An might be using this fact to take

us for a ride! He intentionally faked the dying message in such a way so

that he could absolve himself of blame!”

Faced with those words, Zu An shook his head and looked at Mei Chaofeng

in ridicule, “You must have not brought your brain out with you today. Do I

look like I’m mentally ill as to leave my name on the crime scene and turn

myself into the prime suspect?”

Xie Yi nodded in agreement. “What Zu An says makes sense. With the

doubts surrounding the dying message, there isn’t any concrete evidence to

prove that he’s the murderer anymore. Lord Pang, I’ll be counting on you to

reinvestigate this matter and root out the murderer.”

Pang Chun bowed slightly and said, “Yes, I’ll do my best to get to the

bottom of this case.”

With the case regarding Yang Wei’s death coming to a standstill, the guards

escorted Yang Wei’s family members out of the court. Zu An turned around

to look at Shi Kun and said, “There were quite a few people in the academy

who witnessed my competition with Yang Wei, so most of them should be

aware of the fact that he’s left-handed. It’s unlikely that they would make

such a careless mistake. If I remember correctly, young master Shi has only

joined our academy a day after the duel, right? Ah, that would explain why

the true murderer is unaware of the fact that Lord Yang is left-handed!”

Shi Kun refuted those words right away in agitation, “Zu An, don’t you

dare slander me! How could I possibly be the culprit behind Lord Yang’s

death?!”

Zu An burst out laughing, “Oh? But I didn’t say that you were the murderer.

Why are you getting so agitated?”

“…” Shi Kun.

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +523 Rage!

That bastard! I nearly fell into his trap in a moment of carelessness!

Zu An’s words might be unfounded, but it did make sense as well. The

crowd began pointing fingers at Shi Kun as they speculated about the truth

surrounding the case with their vivid imagination.

Seeing this, Mei Chaofeng valiantly stepped forth to alleviate the social

pressure heaped on his master, saying, “Even if you aren’t the culprit

behind Lord Yang’s death, there’s no way you are unrelated with Plum

Blossom Twelve and Thirteen’s deaths!”

Zu An shrugged calmly. “Why don’t you bring out some concrete evidence

instead of running your mouth?”

Mei Chaofeng first bowed to Xie Yi and the others before starting on his

testimony, “A month ago, someone witnessed you leaving the city together

with Plum Blossom Twelve. However, you were the only one who returned

to Brightmoon City at the end of the day. Based on the results of our

investigation, Plum Blossom Twelve died in the Wolf Valley, and there are

eyewitnesses who have seen you handing over ten goubaos to Divine

Physician Ji on the very same day. From this, we can deduce that Plum

Blossom Twelve has fought hard against the Assrip Wolves to gather a

bunch of goubaos, only for you to assault him and steal his loot!”

Zu An rolled his eyes in disdain. “You’ve already said it with your own

mouth that it’s a deduction. Evidence! Where’s the evidence!”

“The goubaos are the evidence! Furthermore, there are testimonies from

eyewitnesses too. This is the most logical explanation regarding this

matter!” said Mei Chaofeng vehemently.

“With the strength I’ve shown on the dueling ring yesterday, I could have

just hunted the Assrip Wolves and gathered the goubaos on my own. Why

would I need to kill Plum Blossom Twelve for that? Besides, I also have an

eyewitness on my side too. Back then, the daughter of Divine Physician Ji,

Ji Xiaoxi, was with me. She can testify that I’ve collected all of the goubaos

by myself.”

“Then how can you explain the fact that the two of you left the city

together, but you were the only one who returned alone?”

Mei Chaofeng was feeling utterly exasperated at the moment. The other

murder cases were all forged by them, and they made sure to plant ample

evidence beforehand in order to incriminate Zu An. This was the only

murder case that they were certain that the murderer was Zu An, so they

thought that it would work out easily. Yet, who could have thought that no

one would trust him even though he was speaking the truth here?

What’s with this injustice in the world?!

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +497 Rage!

“He met someone named Tan Wei along the way and rushed off to chase

that man, so we ended up parting ways. Is there anything wrong with that?”

replied Zu An with an innocent look on his face.

“Based on what I know, Tan Wei is a traitor of the Plum Blossom Sect. It

does make sense for Plum Blossom Thirteen to split up with Ah Zu to chase

Tan Wei.” Chu Zhongtian added credibility to Zu An’s words.

Pang Chun also directed a nod toward Xie Yi as well, indicating that he was

aware of this matter too. So, Xie Yi slammed the wooden brick on the table

and declared, “Alright! There’s insufficient evidence here to prove that Zu

An is the murderer here. Next!”

Mei Chaofeng glared at Zu An with gritted teeth. “You might have been

able to get by thus far with your glib tongue, but there’s no way you can

argue your way out of Plum Blossom Thirteen’s death!”

Chapter 130: Feelings Speak

Louder Than Words

“I’m amazed, Mei Chaofeng. In order to frame me, you even went to the

extent of killing your closest aide, Plum Blossom Thirteen. Aren’t you

afraid that your deeds would chill the hearts of your subordinates?” asked

Zu An.

“How dare you slander me when you’re the one who murdered Plum

Blossom Thirteen?!” Mei Chaofeng raged. “It’s a known fact in

Brightmoon City that you had Plum Blossom Thirteen’s limbs broken back

then when he offended you!”

To be exact, Plum Blossom Thirteen’s limbs were broken by Discipline

Master Lu De and Chu Chuyan, but these two people had extraordinary

backgrounds, so Mei Chaofeng was reluctant to drag them into this matter.

Thus, he neglected to elaborate on the exact details, choosing to focus on

the fact that the incident happened under Zu An’s order.

Zu An could see through Mei Chaofeng’s intention, but it just so happened

that he didn’t want to drag his wife into this matter, so he didn’t expose it.

“Like you’ve said, I was the one who had Plum Blossom Thirteen’s limbs

crippled back then. I’ve already exacted vengeance on him, so why would I

bother killing him afterward?”

“That’s because Plum Blossom Thirteen is my strongest aide. You were

afraid that you wouldn’t be a match for him once he recovers, so you

decided to make a move in advance and eliminate him while he’s still

incapacitated!” said Mei Chaofeng.

As those words were spoken, the friends and family of Plum Blossom

Thirteen wailed indignantly as they charged toward Zu An, though the

guards standing by the side of the court quickly stepped in to stop them,

“Silence!” Xie Yi smacked the wooden brick on the table once more to

bring order back to the court.

“You must be kidding me. I’m able to defeat even a fifth rank cultivator, but

you’re telling me that I’m afraid of a mere third rank cultivator?” replied Zu

An.

“You only lucked out yesterday, that’s why you were able to defeat Yuan

Wendong. Everyone knows that. Besides, there’s concrete evidence to prove

that you were the one who killed Plum Blossom Thirteen, so there’s no way

you can talk your way out of this!” Mei Chaofeng harrumphed.

“Oh? What evidence do you have?” asked Zu An curiously.

Mei Chaofeng first bowed to Xie Yi and the others before carrying on with

his testimony, “Based on the autopsy, Plum Blossom Thirteen died under

the academy’s Elementary Swordplay. I believe that City Lord Xie has

already verified this matter personally.”

“You can say that every student in Brightmoon Academy knows the

Elementary Swordplay. On what grounds are you insisting that Ah Zu is the

murderer here?” questioned Chu Zhongtian.

Mei Chaofeng waved his hand, and his subordinate immediately brought a

sword over. “The murderer was found by one of our patrolling disciples

while he was assassinating Plum Blossom Thirteen, and he was almost

surrounded. He fled in a hurry under the encirclement of my disciples and

ended up leaving this sword behind.”

Chu Zhongtian’s eyes narrowed upon taking a closer examination of the

sword. There was no way he wouldn’t recognize it to be the weapon Zu An

used on the dueling ring yesterday.

Zu An shrugged calmly. “After the tournament yesterday, I casually tossed

the sword over to a servant in the Chu clan and thought nothing of it

afterward. It looks like you have managed to obtain it through bribing one

of our servants.”

Chu Zhongtian’s face darkened. This, once again, affirmed the fact that

there was a spy in their Chu clan. There wasn’t enough time for him and his

wife to root out the spy yesterday, and their failure ended up creating an

opening for their enemies to exploit.

Mei Chaofeng paid no heed to Zu An and carried on, “There were over a

dozen people who witnessed your murder yesterday night. No matter how

glib your tongue is, there’s no way you’re talking your way out of this!”

A group of people immediately rushed in and recounted what they saw

yesterday night.

Unable to stand it anymore, Chu Zhongtian slammed the table and said,

“Preposterous! It was just a moment ago we established that the testimony

of kin cannot be used as evidence, but are we going to listen to their

testimonies now? They’re all from the Plum Blossom Sect! There was no

way they would dare to defy Mei Chaofeng openly in public!”

Mei Chaofeng smiled calmly and replied, “But we have concrete evidence

aside from eyewitnesses. Zu An has a motive behind the murder too. Are

you going to claim that all of this is a coincidence? Brightmoon Duke, you

can’t be thinking of condoning a criminal just because he’s your son-in-

law?”

Chu Zhongtian flew into a state of rage and roared at Mei Chaofeng, “Who

do you think you are? How dare you speak to me in such a manner!”

He was usually a mild-tempered man, but the events over the last two days

had really been challenging the limits of his patience. On top of that, he had

never liked the Plum Blossom Sect due to their deeds in the city, so he

finally lashed out at Mei Chaofeng’s gleeful attitude.

Mei Chaofeng immediately felt a tremendous force sweeping toward him,

and he faltered fearfully. Even with his fifth rank cultivation, he found that

he was on the verge of collapsing to the ground out of fright.

It was then that Sang Hong stood up and consoled Chu Zhongtian,

“Brightmoon Duke, calm down! It’s beneath your standing to lash out at a

civilian like this!”

Even though it looked like Sang Hong was advising Chu Zhongtian out of

goodwill, in truth, he was warning the latter not to mess around here. On

top of that, he also deflected the tremendous aura directed toward Mei

Chaofeng too.

Xie Yi also stood up to mediate in the situation then, leaving Chu Zhongtian

with no choice but to take a step back from the time being.

Even so, Mei Chaofeng’s face still remained pale. It wasn’t that easy to

recover from the intimidating hostility coming from an eighth rank

cultivator, such that Mei Chaofeng found himself unable to speak in a

moment’s time.

Zu An took this time to think the matter through before remarking, “How

intriguing. Based on what you’ve mentioned, I paid a visit to Yang Wei’s

house to assassinate him before sneaking into the Plum Blossom Sect to kill

Plum Blossom Thirteen. Wow, I never knew that I was such a busy man.”

“There’s nothing a vile man like you is incapable of!” Mei Chaofeng finally

managed to calm his nerves to rebut Zu An. “Besides, haven’t you been

cleansed of the suspicion of killing Lord Yang earlier on? That gives you

more than enough time to pull off a kill on Plum Blossom Thirteen!”

“I see. So you’re acknowledging that I’m not the culprit behind Yang Wei’s

death too. Got it. As for your argument that I have more than enough time,

I’m afraid that you’re sorely mistaken.” Zu An’s tone suddenly changed at

this point. “I was clearly working hard with my wife to bear offspring for

the Chu clan last night. How could I have time to kill Plum Blossom

Thirteen?

“Don’t you know how tough it is for me to marry such a beautiful wife?

Every day, I wake up praying that the sun would set earlier so that my wife

and I could get some private time together. What kind of a man would I be

if I leave behind my beloved wife at home to handle other matters?”

“???” Chu Zhongtian.

He was utterly dumbfounded. Of course, he knew that Zu An was talking

rubbish since he was aware that his daughter and son-in-law were still

sleeping in separate rooms at the moment. However, how could he say it

aloud at this point? Wouldn’t that be placing Zu An in danger?

But at the same time, those words had practically tarnished his daughter’s

reputation…

Oh wait, they’re a married couple. It doesn’t look like a big deal for them to

be sleeping together, right…?

Even so, it was incredibly weird for Chu Zhongtian to listen to his son-in-

law talking about his lovey-dovey affairs with his daughter, especially in

public…

A huge commotion immediately broke out amongst the crowd. Zu An

might not have gone into detail, but a human’s vivid imagination was a

powerful weapon that could easily fill in any gaps in information. The

thought of the beautiful Chu Chuyan being ruined in the hands of a swine

named Zu An made all of them turn green in envy.

You have successfully trolled Yang Shanwei for +233 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Xiao Qun for +233 Rage!

…

“Rubbish!” an infuriated howl sounded from the crowd.

Everyone turned their eyes over, only to see Shi Kun glaring at Zu An with

reddened eyes.

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +999 Rage!

Even though Shi Kun knew that Zu An was lying, he still couldn’t restrain

the anger bubbling within him. The problem here wasn’t whether he knew

Zu An was lying or not; it was whether the crowd knew it or not! At this

rate, by the time he finally married Chu Chuyan in the future, everyone

would think that he was just picking up a second-handed good from Zu An!

There was no way he could accept something like that!

“You have never consummated your marriage with Chu First Miss, so what

are you bragging over there for?” roared Shi Kun.

Zu An shot a glance at Shi Kun before remarking leisurely, “What are you

getting so agitated for? You can’t be coveting my wife here, are you? Tsk

tsk tsk, is this how the Shi clan raises its offspring? Haaa~”

Shi Kun’s rage-o-meter immediately struck the limit. Bring me my fucking

sword!

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +468 Rage!

Behind him, Snow quietly tugged his sleeves and reminded softly, “Young

master, you need to hold it in, or else our plans will be compromised.”

Shi Kun took in a deep breath before slowly calming down. That’s right, Zu

An is already done for over here. I should wait for the verdict to be passed

before slowly settling the scores with him.

Zu An looked at Snow in surprise. Oh? It looks like she didn’t reveal my

secret, or else Shit Kun wouldn’t have been so angry. Why is she

concealing it for me?

Ah. Did she fall for me unknowingly?

Noticing Zu An’s stare, Snow returned a sharp glare back. It’s no wonder

why the young master is so infuriated. Even I can’t help but want to

pummel him every time I see his face!

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +520 Rage!

Zu An was amused by the number. Oh hoh! Despite her refusal, it looks like

her feelings are much more honest! [1]

Seeing that Shi Kun was getting riled up, Mei Chaofeng quickly leaped in

and said, “The testimony of kin cannot be taken as evidence. Besides, Zu

An’s words carry falsehoods. Just ask anyone in the Chu clan; all of them

know that he has been sleeping in separate rooms with Chu First Miss, so

how could the latter testify for him? Look! Despite the important occasion,

Chu First Miss is nowhere to be seen at all. This should be more than

enough to prove how their relationship as a couple is like!”

“Who says that I’m not here?” a crisp and euphonious voice suddenly

sounded from behind the crowd.

The crowd quickly turned around, only to see a beautiful woman dressed in

blue slowly walking over like a fairy from heaven.

“So this is Chu First Miss~”

“She’s as ravishing as the rumors put her out to be!”

“If I had a wife like her, I would never get up from my bed anymore!”

“Yeah! Who would waste a precious night with such a beauty on killing a

person instead? Only a fool would do that!”

…

The remarks coming from the crowd amazed Zu An. Despite all of the

arguments he had made, it turned out that nothing was more convincing

than Chu Chuyan’s appearance.

Chu Chuyan walked into the court and said, “There’s no need to investigate

it anymore. He was sleeping with me last night.”

Those words stirred huge waves right away. Chu Zhongtian widened his

eyes. Sang Hong choked on the cup of tea he was sipping on. Even Xie Yi

was too shocked to slam the wooden brick to demand order in the court.

“What?!” Shi Kun turned to Snow with a face distorted in rage. “Didn’t you

tell me that there’s no way they will get together with one another?”

Snow was equally confused too. Could there be a huge advancement in the

relationship between Chu Chuyan and Zu An in the last few days? But that

was impossible!

Even Zu An was in no mood to stare at the massive influx of Rage points

falling into his piggy bank. He, too, was staring at Chu Chuyan with his

mouth agape. He didn’t expect her to stand up for him in this manner before

such a huge crowd.

One must know that even though the two of them were married, there were

rumors abound that they were sleeping in separate rooms. Due to that, she

still remained as the lofty, pure fairy in everyone’s eyes.

However, her admittance to having slept with Zu An would break even the

persistence of the most tenacious of fanboys in deluding themselves that she

was still chaste.

She was actually willing to sacrifice her own reputation for me.

Zu An was moved by this gesture. It turned out that Chu Chuyan had a

warm heart under her cold exterior.

Yup, I should do my best in the future to help her warm up her body too.

“Cough cough!” Xie Yi finally snapped out of his shock. He slammed the

wooden brick on the table and demanded order. “Chu First Miss, the court

is not a place for lies. Are you certain about what you have just said?”

“Naturally.” Chu Chuyan stood calmly at the center of the room as a light

breeze tugged on her dress gently. The crowd found themselves falling

intoxicated under her ethereal beauty. “Also, I’ve brought in a new

eyewitness.”

“A new eyewitness?”

Putting aside Chu Zhongtian, even Shi Kun and the others were confused.

They couldn’t imagine they could turn the tables with the evidence they had

thoroughly prepared to incriminate Zu An.

“Bring in the eyewitness!” ordered Xie Yi.

Chu Chuyan nodded in response, and the guards of the Chu clan quickly

escorted a person in. Mei Chaofeng was still standing confidently a moment

ago, but when he saw the eyewitness Chu Chyan had brought over, his

composure shattered right away.

1. The Rage points Snow provided, 520, means ‘I love you’ in Chinese.

Chapter 131: Final Chance

Snow’s face also warped upon seeing the eyewitness’ face too. She quickly

explained the current situation to Shi Kun.

Needless to say, Shi Kun was infuriated to have the tables turned in such a

manner. He turned to look at Mei Chaofeng with a piercing glare. How dare

you ruin my plans for your lust?

“Who are you?” Keenly noticing the reactions of Mei Chaofeng and Shi

Kun, Xie Yi quickly asked the eyewitness.

The woman who was brought in by the guards of the Chu clan kneeled onto

the floor and spoke, “City Lord Xie, I am the wife of Tan Wei, Madam

Zhang.”

“Tan Wei?” Xie Yi naturally knew who Tan Wei was, and he began

assessing the various people present in the court with a meaningful gleam in

his eyes.

A slight furrow also formed on Sang Hong’s forehead. It looks like their

plan is going to fail once again.

“What are you doing here? Go back right now!” Mei Chaofeng finally

snapped out of his daze and rushed toward Madam Zhang’s side, attempting

to chase her off.

His sudden aggressive movement left Madam Zhang cowering fearfully, a

sign that she was extremely afraid of Mei Chaofeng.

Chu Chuyan immediately stepped in between the two of them and said

calmly, “Are you trying to intimidate my eyewitness here?”

Mei Chaofeng immediately argued anxiously, “How can she possibly be an

eyewitness? She’s no more than my concubine!”

“No, I’m Tan Wei’s wife! You resorted to despicable means to force me to

do your bidding!” Madam Zhang looked at Mei Chaofeng with eyes filled

with hatred.

Mei Chaofeng felt as if he had been plunged into icy-cold water. The

woman before him suddenly looked foreign to him. She had been so

subservient to him in recent days, never hesitating to fulfill his requests.

The dominance he had over her made him feel rather gleeful, and he even

bragged about it before Snow too. Yet…

Is it all an act?

Xie Yi secretly shot a glance at Sang Hong and saw that the latter wasn’t

responding at all. This gave him a good idea as to what was going on.

“Madam Zhang, feel free to speak of any indignance you have suffered.

We’ll redress your grievances in this court.”

With tears in her eyes, Madam Zhang began to explain everything she had

been through.

As it turned out, she and Tan Wei were childhood lovers, but the Zhang clan

opposed their relationship out of scorn for Tan Wei’s impecunious

background. So, Tan Wei joined the Plum Blossom Sect in hopes of making

it big, and his willingness to dive into danger and the tenacity he displayed

against the sect’s enemies allowed him to swiftly rise through the ranks. It

didn’t take him to make a bit of reputation and money for himself.

Eventually, at Madam Zhang’s insistence, her parents reluctantly accepted

their marriage. The fulfillment of their difficult love made them cherish

each other even more, and they lived in great bliss with one another. But

one day, the sect master of the Plum Blossom Sect paid them a visit and

became enamored with Madam Zhang’s beauty.

So, he laid out a scheme to take Madam Zhang’s body, which incurred Tan

Wei’s rage. Tan Wei tried to stand up for his wife, but it was a pity that there

was a huge difference in their cultivation ranks. In the end, it was only with

Madam Zhang’s help that Tan Wei barely managed to escape with his life.

In order to keep her husband safe, Madam Zhang chose to lower herself to

serve her enemy, allowing Mei Chaofeng to demean her in any way he

wanted to. She was able to continue persevering because Mei Chaofeng had

promised her to let Tan Wei go.

However, not too long ago, she received news that Tan Wei had been killed

by Plum Blossom Twelve, and that drove her into despair. She wanted to

just end her life and accompany her husband in the afterlife, but her anger

and indignance stopped her. She couldn’t allow Mei Chaofeng to get off the

hook just like that.

So, she changed her attitude. She began going along with Mei Chaofeng to

win his affection. She made Mei Chaofeng think that his charms had

conquered her, resulting in him lowering his guard against her.

In truth, she had been secretly collecting evidence of Mei Chaofeng’s

wrongdoing, and she was only waiting for an opportunity to make her

move. Just earlier today, the first miss of the Chu clan paid her visit, and

she immediately knew that her chance had come.

“Rubbish! It’s this lowly woman who seduced me for my power and

authority. Tan Wei chose to leave on his own accord out of humiliation. I’ve

never tried to force myself on Madam Zhang before!” explained Mei

Chaofeng anxiously.

There was no way Zu An was going to miss this perfect opportunity. “Hah!

A woman seducing you on her own accord? Did you think that you’re like

me? You should get yourself a mirror and take one hard look at your own

face!”

Mei Chaofeng felt blood rushing into his head. If not for the fact that they

were in the midst of a court, he would have rushed forward to give Zu An

two tight slaps.

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +501 Rage!

Chu Chuyan also fell silent. She felt a little offended by what he had just

said.

It was then that Vice Magistrate Pang Chun spoke up in reminder, “Madam

Zhang, what you’ve just mentioned is unrelated to the current case. We’ll

trial your case separately afterward.”

“No, it’s related to the current case!” Madam Zhang raised her head and

spoke resoundingly. “Yesterday, I personally heard Mei Chaofeng ordering

his subordinates to falsify the evidence. He was also the one who killed

Plum Blossom Thirteen. In the entire Plum Blossom Sect, he seems to be

the only one who has the ability to imitate some kind of academy sword

art.”

Those words understandably raised a huge uproar. Even the kin and friends

of Plum Blossom Thirteen turned to look at Mei Chaofeng with eyes

widened in disbelief.

“You slut! How dare you frame me?!”

Mei Chaofeng felt deeply regretful. If only he had gotten rid of that woman

while he could, he wouldn’t have ended up in his current plight. However,

if he could do it once more, he would probably still do the same. For some

reason, he simply wouldn’t grow sick of Madam Zhang no matter how he

toyed with her.

Madam Zhang chose to disregard him and continued on with her testimony,

“Lord Yang Wei’s death seems to have something to do with him too. It

seems to be done by some influential figure.”

Everyone was shocked to hear those words. Yang Wei’s wife began rushing

toward Mei Chaofeng in a frenzy, attempting to claw her nails through his

skin, only to be held back by the guards in the court.

The crowd also began whispering amongst themselves. There wasn’t any

concrete evidence yet, but they had already chosen to believe in Madam

Zhang’s words. Mei Chaofeng’s act of killing Tan Wei and dominating his

wife was so vile that it had incensed the crowd.

“That useless trash!” Shi Kun was infuriated. How could he possibly not

be? They were just moments away from condemning Zu An to hell, but

their scheme was unraveled over a mere woman!

“Young master, please do not worry. You aren’t directly involved in this

matter, so there’s no way Madam Zhang knows of your identity. Besides,

Mei Chaofeng knows his own place. He’ll step forward to carry the blame

if it looks like things are going awry. He would never dare to give you

away.” Shi Lezhi sent a voice transmission to Shi Kun in order to reassure

the latter.

“Hmph!” Shi Kun harrumphed coldly, but Shi Lezhi’s reassurance did little

to lift his mood.

Xie Yi slammed the wooden brick on the table once more before issuing his

order, “Men, arrest Mei Chaofeng and all of the eyewitnesses who accused

Zu An of murder earlier. We’ll be interrogating them. I’ll make sure to get

to the bottom of this case so that those who have died can rest in peace!”

Mei Chaofeng was a powerhouse who had ruled the underground world for

many years, so the guards in the courtroom couldn’t even faze him at all.

His first thought was to charge out of the court and flee, but he swiftly

brushed off that urge. One must know that Governor Sang, City Lord Xie,

and the Brightmoon Duke were present here as well. Even Vice Magistrate

Pang wasn’t weaker than him in any way. There was no way he could get

away, and an attempt to do so would only prove his guilty conscience.

Instead, if he stayed here, there might still be a chance to turn things

around. He did have quite a few connections in the city, and young master

Shi held great power in his hands too. There was still a chance for him to be

vindicated.

With such thoughts in mind, he gave up on struggling and allowed the

guards to shackle his limbs.

While he was being taken aback, Zu An walked up to him with a smile and

said, “What a surprise, don’t you think? Just two hours ago, you were still

trying to shackle me, only to be the one being shackled now. The world sure

is a mysterious place, isn’t it?”

“You bastard! Don’t act so smug. You might be lucky today, but you won’t

stay lucky for life. All it takes is you slipping up once, and you’ll be over!”

spat Mei Chaofeng furiously.

With young master Shi’s influence, he could continuously hatch schemes

against Zu An. Even if one failed, all he had to do was to try again. Even if

Zu An managed to survive 99 of the schemes, as long as he slipped up the

hundredth time, he would still be a goner.

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +998 Rage!

“What a pity it is that you’ll never live to see that day,” said Zu An with a

smile.

The crime of killing an official of the royal court, as well as the other

murder cases under his name and all of the underhanded deeds he had

committed over the years; all of these were more than enough to have him

executed multiple times.

“Zu An, I’ll make sure to drag you with me even if I die!”

Even while Mei Chaofeng was being pulled away, his roars could still be

heard from afar.

“Incompetent people sure love to talk big.” Zu An shook his head in

disdain.

He was just about to put down Shi Kun and earn a bit more Rage points

when he noticed that the latter had vanished from view. It seemed like he

didn’t want to remain here after seeing how his plan had been unraveled.

Following that, Xie Yi assigned several guards to Madam Zhang’s side in

order to protect her until the storm died down. With that, the court was

dismissed.

The spectators slowly dispersed, but the excitement from the drama they

had seen had yet to recede. It could be foreseen that within the next few

days, everyone in Brightmoon City would come to learn of every single

detail regarding this incident.

Before Sang Hong left, he directed a long look at Chu Zhongtian before

remarking, “Brightmoon Duke, you really do impress me.”

“You’re impressed by me? For what?” replied Chu Zhongtian.

Sang Hong shot a glance at Zu An before explaining, “I’m impressed by

your sharp eyes. While everyone was looking down on him, you chose to

go against the odds to take him in as your son-in-law. It seems like your

ability to perceive people is far sharper than mine.”

It was rare to see Sang Hong so frustrated. Chu Zhongtian delightfully

accepted the praise and replied, “Governor Sang, you’re too kind. Hahaha!”

After the swift exchange, the two of them went their own ways.

While returning back to the Chu clan, Chu Chuyan couldn’t stop herself

from asking, “How did you know that Madam Zhang would help you?”

The corners of Zu An’s lips inched upward as he explained, “To be honest, I

encountered Tan Wei during my journey out of town. I learned that he had a

sum of money stashed away in the wall of his residence. I was still quite

poor back then, and since he was already dead, I thought of taking his

money for my own. Unexpectedly, I stumbled upon Madam Zhang secretly

paying respects to her deceased husband at the residence.

“It was then that I realized that the rumors about Madam Zhang willingly

becoming Mei Chaofeng’s lover might have been a lie. Her act of paying

respects to her deceased husband showed that she cared a lot for him, and

the fact that she had to do it secretly meant that she was trying to conceal it

from the Plum Blossom Sect. Piecing together all of these clues, I was able

to roughly figure out her intentions, which is why I told you to bring her

over to the courtroom earlier.

“Only with the prestige and standing you hold as the daughter of a duke

would be able to convince her to make a move.”

Chu Chuyan felt admiration for Madam Zhang. “She’s truly a strong

woman. In order to exact vengeance for her husband, she was willing to

bear with humiliation. It’s truly a blessing that her sacrifice hasn’t been in

vain.”

“Yes, she’s indeed someone worthy of respect.” Zu An nodded in

agreement. “If something happens to me, will you be willing to put aside

everything and exact vengeance for me too?”

Chu Chuyan rolled her eyes. “Haven’t you heard of the saying that good

people die prematurely but vermins plague the world for centuries? I doubt

that any harm could possibly come to you.”

“Ahahaha, I’m flattered by how highly you think of me.” Zu An laughed.

His reaction made Chu Chuyan scoff under her breath. I’m not

complimenting you over here! “Speaking of which, you mentioned that you

were going to take Tan Wei’s money for your own? Madam Zhang is

already as pitiful as she is. Surely you aren’t going to keep her husband’s

money after knowing of her story?”

“Of course not,” replied Zu An. “I gave the money to her on the spot.

Otherwise, how could I be so certain that she would help me this time

around?”

“It looks like you aren’t rotten to the core yet.” Despite her slightly harsh

remark, a smile was forming on her lips. She was satisfied with how Zu An

handled this matter.

It was then that Zu An suddenly realized a new problem. If Mei Chaofeng

was done for, wouldn’t the Plum Blossom Sect crumble next? If so, the

7,500,000 silver taels debt note he had on the Plum Blossom Sect would

become a mere empty cheque!

It’s fortunate that I magnanimously donated it to Brightmoon Academy

beforehand. Oh well, I guess it’s Jiang Luofu’s problem now.

…

Night descended upon Brightmoon City. In one of the cells of the yamen,

Mei Chaofeng was just about to start cultivating when he suddenly sensed

something and opened his eyes.

He could vaguely hear deep groans sounding not too far away. It was the

sound of the patrolling guards being knocked out.

Soon, a figure appeared before his cell. The figure whipped out a key he

had just swiped away from the prison warden and unlocked the cell.

“Mister Shi!”

Even though the figure was masked, Mei Chaofeng was still able to

recognize the other party.

“The young master has sent me here to bring you out,” replied Shi Lezhi.

Mei Chaofeng frowned. “Are we escaping just like that? Isn’t that as good

as admitting to my crimes?”

“Are you still dreaming of being vindicated? You should have known better

and kept that thing between your legs under control!” Shi Lezhi

harrumphed.

“That slut! I’m going to kill her!” Just thinking about the matter was more

than enough to stir Mei Chaofeng’s anger.

“Madam Zhang is being protected by the City Lord Estate at the moment,

so you shouldn’t even bother thinking about it,” replied Shi Lezhi. “The

young master has tasked me to save you in order to give you one last

chance. As long as you’re able to get rid of Zu An, the young master will

send you to another city where you can continue to live freely. Otherwise…

you should know better than anyone else what happens to those who are

useless.”

Chapter 132: Murder Ploy

Mei Chaofeng’s face darkened. He pointed out grimly, “I’m not useless. I

still have the Plum Blossom Sect.”

To be frank, he was unwilling to assassinate Zu An. It was bound to be an

incredibly dangerous undertaking, for Zu An was no longer the same person

he used to be. On top of that, even if he succeeded, he wouldn’t be able to

stay in Brightmoon City anymore. Both the Chu clan and Brightmoon

Academy wouldn’t let this matter rest easily.

He was the sect master of the Plum Blossom Sect, but he was being treated

as a sacrificial pawn here!

“The Plum Blossom Sect?” Shi Lezhi sneered coldly. “The news that you

have killed Plum Blossom Thirteen has already gotten out, and it hasn’t

been long since you killed Plum Blossom Seven too. Those subordinates of

yours have already lost their respect and loyalty for you. You can’t be

thinking that you’re still the same high and mighty sect master you were,

right?”

Mei Chaofeng gritted his teeth furiously.

I also knew that killing Plum Blossom Seven would make my subordinates

lose trust in me, but what choice did I have? Young master Shi issued a

direct command to me!

Plum Blossom Thirteen was my most trusted aide, but your Shi clan forced

me to kill him in order to put your plan into action. Yet, you’re blaming all

of these on me now?

Mei Chaofeng felt incredibly indignant, but knowing the current position he

was in, he dared not to voice his thoughts aloud.

“Let’s get out of here first.” Even with Shi Lezhi’s powerful cultivation, he

dared not to get careless here. Raiding a prison was definitely not a small

matter. If he were to get caught, even the Shi clan would suffer a huge

backlash.

The two of them quickly left the prison to head for a remote residence

within the city.

“You shouldn’t return to the Plum Blossom Sect for the time being. Once

they notice that you’re gone, they would surely issue an arrest warrant for

you. Rest here for the time being instead,” said Shi Lezhi.

Mei Chaofeng looked at the dilapidated walls around him as he thought

about how he was still feasting on meat, gulping down wine, and

surrounded by beautiful women yesterday. He couldn’t help but wonder

how he had fallen so low in the blink of an eye.

Noticing the dissatisfied look in Mei Chaofeng’s eyes, Shi Lezhi said, “You

need not get too depressed. Once you’ve accomplished the young master’s

mission, you’ll be able to live grandly as you previously did in another

city.”

Mei Chaofeng frowned. “Killing Zu An is not hard at all, but the problem is

that he has the protection of the Chu clan. He has guards with him wherever

he goes, and he spends his time either in the academy or the Chu clan.

There’s no chance to assassinate him at all!”

If we could kill Zu An that easily, why would we even bother plotting the

earlier scheme for him? We would have just assassinated him outright!

“Don’t worry, we’ve found a way to kill him,” replied Shi Lezhi.

“Oh? What is it?” Mei Chaofeng’s interest was piqued. He would love

nothing more than to kill that bastard with his own hands and vent his

anger.

“Do you remember the bizarre melody he played on the dueling ring

yesterday?” asked Shi Lezhi.

“Of course I do! He calls it bee gee em or something,” replied Mei

Chaofeng in a huff. Even he had to admit that the melody was quite cool,

albeit excessive.

“Zu An uses a seashell to play the music, and based on the results of our

investigation, the seashell is the personal possession of a foreign language

teacher of Brightmoon Academy. It seems like she has never lent it to

anyone else before,” said Shi Lezhi.

Mei Chaofeng was surprised. “Is that fellow involved with Shang Liuyu

too?”

Zu An’s wife was the number one beauty of Brightmoon City, and he was

rumored to be in a relationship with many beautiful women in the academy

too. To this day, the legend of the Moochlord was still spreading all around

the city, creating a huge hype.

Mei Chaofeng could understand if that was all there was to it. Those

women were mostly young lasses who tended to be gullible after all. But

who could have thought that even a gorgeous, mature woman like Shang

Liuyu would be involved with that fellow too?

He began doubting his own common sense. Are men like Zu An in trend

nowadays?

He thought about how he could only toy with women like Madam Zhang—

and it even brought him trouble in the end!—whereas Zu An was involved

with several of the most beautiful and distinguished women in Brightmoon

City all at once. This disparity left him feeling so sour as if he had been

plunged into a vat of vinegar. He was envious.

“We don’t know what his relationship with Shang Liuyu is, but it seems like

they are quite close with one another,” said Shi Lezhi.

“Tomorrow, when he arrives at the academy, we’ll ask him out for a private

meeting using Shang Liuyu’s name. In one of your reports to the young

master, you mentioned that Plum Blossom Thirteen spotted them together

in a gazebo near the academy. We’ll ask him out there. I reckon that he

wouldn’t turn down the invitation.”

“Very well. I’ll make sure to tear off that bastard’s kin and rip off his

tendons so as to vent my anger!” Mei Chaofeng clenched his fists tightly.

…

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +812 Rage!

Looking at the sudden inflow of Rage points, Zu An snorted. That fellow

sure carries a huge grudge for me. Oh well, he’s locked behind bars right

now, so he’s no longer a threat anymore.

So, he turned his attention back to Chu Chuyan and said, “Honey, you

really aren’t going to consider allowing me to move over? I mean, you even

went to the extent of admitting to sleeping with me in public!”

“What about it?” Chu Chuyan’s tone was impassive.

“Just think about it! What a loss it would be if you have to bear such a

reputation when we aren’t even staying together, right?” explained Zu An.

“It’s out of consideration for you that I’m suggesting for us to stay together

with one another!”

“…” Chu Chuyan.

Knowing that it was impossible for her to win this thick-skinned man in an

argument, she decisively shut her doors on him.

Zu An’s nose was nearly struck by the slamming doors, and he hurriedly

backed away in fear. Then, he sighed deeply. “Haaa, it looks like there’s

still a long way to go.”

Meanwhile, at the master bedroom of the Chu Estate, Chu Zhongtian

explained everything that had happened in the courtroom to his wife. In the

end, he concluded wistfully, “Ah Zu looks like a reckless person on the

surface, and his words tend to be jarring too. However, he has a sharp mind

that allows him to analyze a problem and tackle it at its roots. There were

many times where I was still in the midst of processing the situation when

he had already launched a counterattack.”

“Is he really that formidable?” asked Qin Wanru skeptically.

“I’ve already told you everything that happened, so you should be able to

come to a judgment yourself. If you still reserve some doubts about this

matter, you can seek Chuyan for further clarifications too.” Chu Zhongtian

was a little displeased to hear his wife’s doubt. Do I look like someone who

just runs my mouth without careful thought?

Qin Wanru frowned. “Then why does he portray himself as a good-for-

nothing all these years?”

Chu Zhongtian shook his head. “I don’t know either. We should find a

suitable time to ask him about it.”

“Say, is it possible for him to be a spy sent by other clans?” asked Qin

Wanru.

“It doesn’t seem like it,” replied Chu Zhongtian. “To be honest, I was

indeed surprised when he won the Clans Tournament back then, but I didn’t

think much about it. After all, he’s only at the third rank. However, his

performance in the courtroom today made him realize that he’s a person

with keen situation awareness. I think it’s more likely that Chuyan just

happened to stumble upon a good husband.”

“You shouldn’t come to a conclusion that quickly.” Qin Wanru harrumphed.

“Have you forgotten Chu Chuyan’s intention for seeking a husband? If Zu

An is as capable as you put him out to be, and he intentionally hid his

capability thus far, there’s a good chance that he might have his own plans

in mind. His presence might not necessarily be a blessing for the Chu clan.”

“Surely it’s not as severe as you think?” replied Chu Zhongtian sheepishly.

“Have you forgotten about our Youzhao?” exclaimed Qin Wanru. “We

might be able to keep his conditions under wraps from outsiders, but there’s

no way we can hide it from Zu An for long. If Zu An learns of Youzhao’s

condition and bears ill will toward him, what will become of our Chu clan?

By then, what will happen to our Chuyan? She would be put in a difficult

position!”

Chu Zhongtian hesitated for a moment and said, “If that’s the case, we

should consider having Chuyan inherit the Chu clan. She has sacrificed too

much for the Chu clan over the years.”

“But the royal court and the other clans would never approve of it!” Qin

Wanru sighed deeply. “Forget it. We’ll just have to take a step at a time and

see how it goes.”

…

The following morning, Zu An woke up and headed for Brightmoon

Academy. Now that he was a teacher, attending the academy didn’t feel like

a chore anymore. On the contrary, he looked forward to exploiting his

authority as a teacher everyday.

Chu Huanzhao wanted to accompany him to the academy, but Qin Wanru

stopped her. The latter felt that her second daughter was getting far too

close to her brother-in-law, so under the pretext that she was still injured

from the Clans Tournament, she insisted on having her rest at home.

As for Chu Chuyan, she hardly went to the academy in the first place, not to

mention that she was also injured at the moment. Naturally, she didn’t go

with Zu An either.

Due to that, Zu An’s silhouette looked particularly lonesome today… Well,

that lackey Cheng Shouping couldn’t really be considered as a companion

after all!

Earlier in the morning, the Chu clan received the news that Mei Chaofeng

had escaped from prison. Out of worry, Chu Zhongtian assigned more

guards to Zu An’s side in order to protect him. These guards were from the

Red Cloak Army, and they were skilled in collaborative assault. Even when

faced with an enemy of higher cultivation rank, they could at least hold

their own until reinforcement arrived.

So, Zu An was able to arrive at Brightmoon Academy without any problem.

He was a little disappointed as he thought that Mei Chaofeng would try to

spring an assault on him on the way, but it turned out that he was just a

coward who had chosen to hole himself up.

To be frank, he was even more infuriated at the City Lord Estate. He didn’t

think that they would be so incompetent as to allow Mei Chaofeng to

escape from prison. Had it not been for the fact that they were in King Qi’s

faction, he would have thought that the City Lord Estate had intentionally

let Mei Chaofeng loose.

Having arrived at the academy, Zu An looked at the ravishing youthful

women walking by him, and he suddenly felt refreshed. This was much

more of a pleasing sight than the disgusting Shit Kun and Mei Chaofeng.

Seeing that there was still some time before the first class, he headed over

to Shang Liuyu’s residence, intending to use the pretext of returning her

recording seashell to her in order to visit her.

This was a trick he had learned from his peers in his previous life. One of

the most common tricks they used to approach a woman was to borrow

some of their items so that they could ask them out to return it later on. By

repeating this process several times, it was only a matter of time before they

got close to one another.

He skipped merrily all the way to Shang Liuyu’s residence and knocked on

her door. When the door finally opened, he saw a properly-dressed Shang

Liuyu sitting on a swing in the courtyard, stroking her zither lightly.

What a bummer. I thought that I might be able to see her in her sleepwear or

something by coming by earlier.

There was a smile on Shang Liuyu’s face as she took her seashell back from

Zu An. “It looks like you have stirred quite a storm over the last two days.

Your name has been echoing through the streets of the entire Brightmoon

City.”

“You don’t look too surprised,” remarked Zu An.

Even quietly watching the woman before him was enough to make Zu An

feel fulfilled. It was no wonder why people called it ‘feast for the eyes’.

“Someone who’s able to compose that kind of melody can’t possibly be a

wastrel.” Shang Liuyu gently stroked her zither, and a soothing note played

under her fingers.

Zu An laughed. “You do have sharp eyes! I have innumerable strengths

hidden within me. You’ll soon come to realize that I have a treasure trove in

me waiting to be uncovered!”

“…” Shang Liuyu.

She had no idea how to respond to those words at all. As if reflecting her

feelings, a slight dissonance emerged in the melody she was playing.

Zu An continued hanging around for a bit longer before finally taking his

leave. When he finally walked out of Shang Liuyu’s residence, his footsteps

were lighter than ever. Be it her euphonious voice or the melodious tunes

she played, it made him feel like he was having an eargasm.

Not too long after returning to his classroom, a student suddenly stuffed a

paper note into his hands, saying, “Teacher Shang told me to pass this to

you!”

Zu An was taken aback. He unfolded the paper note and read its message:

See you in the gazebo two hours from now.

Hm? Could this possibly be the start of the legendary confession scene I’ve

seen so often in dramas and animes?

However, he quickly tossed away that thought. Something smells very fishy

here. We have just met one another a moment ago, so how could she

possibly be in such a rush to ask me out once more?

No matter how narcissistic he was, he didn’t think that his charm was great

enough to make the mild-tempered Shang Liuyu approach him so

proactively.

More importantly, there was no way Shang Liuyu would task a student to

pass a note to him on her behalf. This could easily spark rumors about their

relationship in the academy, and it was something which she had been

careful to avoid thus far.

He thought about how Mei Chaofeng had escaped from prison earlier in the

morning, and a moment later, he decisively made his way toward the

administrative office.

It didn’t take long for him to arrive in the Principal’s Office, where Jiang

Luofu sat in her chair with her long legs resting casually on the flower pots

in front of her.

Light grey color!

It was amazing how the color of Jiang Luofu’s stockings was constantly

changing, though what was even more remarkable was how everything

simply looked nice on her.

It looks like having beautiful legs is the key here.

Yup, I’m definitely not ogling over here. I’m just looking at it on Wei Suo’s

behalf in case he asks me about it.

“You’re here. It just so happens that I was about to look for you.” Before Zu

An could reveal the purpose behind his arrival, Jiang Luofu had already

spoken up in advance.

Chapter 133: Surprise!

“What’s wrong?” asked Zu An in surprise.

“It’s about the slots into the dungeon,” replied Jiang Luofu as she crossed

her legs leisurely. It was as if she was unaware of how tempting her casual

movements were to men. “Do you want to enter the dungeon as a student or

a teacher?”

After Zu An’s feat of defeating Yuan Wendong and Yuan Wenji in the

dueling ring, no one would question his qualification to enter the dungeon

anymore.

“Naturally, I want to enter as a teacher!” replied Zu An.

It was better being a teacher. It looked good on him, and he could exploit

his standing too.

“As a teacher, you’ll have to be responsible for the students’ safety in the

dungeon,” said Jiang Luofu.

Zu An was taken aback to hear those words. He was entering the dungeon

in order to look for the Evanescent Lotus, so it would be inconvenient for

him to have to take care of the other students on top of that. So, he argued,

“Isn’t the very purpose of the students entering the dungeon is to challenge

themselves? It’s counterproductive to assign teachers to shield them from

danger. Those kids would never mature if we keep tucking them under our

wings like little hatchlings!”

“Kids?” Jiang Luofu was rendered speechless. That fellow is a student

himself too, and he’s trying to preach here like he’s superior to the rest of

them.

She exhaled deeply before explaining the matter, “The dungeon is as much

of a menace as it is an opportunity. There would always be casualties each

time a dungeon opens, which is why the academy is forced to put some

restrictions in place in order to manage risk. Only fifth rank and selected

fourth rank cultivators are allowed to move freely in the dungeon. As for

the rest, they are to follow a group led by a teacher.”

After gaining a rough grasp of the situation, Zu An finally nodded and said,

“No problem. It’s not as if any students would select my group anyway.”

“…” Jiang Luofu.

This fellow’s thought process really is different from the others. Haaa,

forget it. I’ll just send more teachers in then.

“Alright. Let’s move on to the second matter then,” said Jiang Luofu. “The

academy needs you to step forward and take over all of the businesses of

the Plum Blossom Sect in our stead. You should be aware that it isn’t apt

for us to step forward to handle this sort of matter.”

Zu An was amused. “Didn’t I already hand the debt note to you? You

should be the one handling the aftermath, so why are you leaving it to me

now?”

“I was planning on making a move, but that lawsuit of yours ended up

sending Mei Chaofeng straight to jail. The Plum Blossom Sect is on the

verge of collapsing right now, and there are many people eyeing their

lucrative businesses right now. It’s just that they are curbing one another at

the moment, so no one has been able to make a move yet,” said Jiang

Luofu.

“However, it’s different from you. Everyone knows that the Plum Blossom

Sect owes you 7,500,000 silver taels, so you have the legitimacy to take

over its businesses. On top of that, the academy will be providing you

support from the back, so you should be able to handle it with ease.”

“Aren’t you pushing me out to borrow the Chu clan’s name for this

matter?” Zu An pointed out.

It was likely that Brightmoon Academy had its own plan to collect the debt,

but Mei Chaofeng’s sudden imprisonment messed things up. Everyone’s

eyes were on the businesses of the Plum Blossom Sect right now, leaving

Brightmoon Academy was in an inconvenient position to make a move

here. It was still an academy under the royal court after all, so it wouldn’t

look good if it were to get involved directly in such matters. As such, it

needed someone to step forward in its place.

The best candidate here was indubitably Zu An. Not only did he have

legitimacy, but he also could borrow the name of the Chu clan to pressure

the others. Even if he was doing it on his own accord, the other powers

would still think he was representing the Chu clan.

Once the other powers realize that the academy had joined hands with the

Chu clan, they would have no choice but to back down.

“It isn’t a good thing for a man to be too smart.” Jiang Luofu tapped her

brush lightly on the table as she looked at Zu An with a playful smile.

“I won’t do it. It’s not like I’m getting anything out of this anyway,” Zu An

rejected it without any hesitation.

“Oh?” Jiang Luofu was unfazed by Zu An’s rejection. “I guess I’ll have to

pick another person to take your slot for the Ursae Dungeon then.”

Zu An immediately slapped a smile on his face and replied, “Ahahaha, I’m

just kidding. As a teacher of the academy, it’s only right for me to do my

part and share the academy’s burden. Besides, I was the one who gave you

the debt note in the first place. It’s only right for me to clean up the mess.

Leave it to me!”

Jiang Luofu stared at Zu An silently for a long moment before exhaling

deeply. “I must say, you’re the most thick-skinned person I have seen in

recent years… Speaking of which, you were looking for me?”

Zu An’s eyes immediately gleamed as he began speaking, “Actually, it’s the

same matter as what you were saying…”

He quickly explained the situation to Jiang Luofu.

“You want to get me to subdue Mei Chaofeng for you?” Jiang Luofu

harrumphed.

“I mean, just think about it. Mei Chaofeng definitely knows a lot of secrets

surrounding the Plum Blossom Sect, such as its accounting logs, cash flow,

procurement of resources, and so on. Even if you take over the Plum

Blossom Sect’s businesses, you’ll have trouble maintaining them without

such vital information, right?” explained Zu An.

“I guess your words do make some sense. Fine, I’ll accompany you then!”

Jiang Luofu finally stood up from her chair, which made her tall stature

even more apparent.

Along the way to the gazebo, the two of them began chatting.

“I’m quite curious as to how you managed to defeat the Yuan brothers in

the dueling ring the other day. Your swordplay was a little different from

our academy’s Elementary Swordplay.”

“It can’t be helped. I’m simply too talented, so my understanding of the

sword art goes far deeper than anyone else’s.”

“… You’re obviously on good terms with Shang Liuyu. You still lied to me

previously that you don’t know her at all.”

“How could I possibly dare to lie to you? I really didn’t know her back

then!”

“How far have you progressed with her? I haven’t seen her allowing anyone

to enter her residence for many years now, let alone lending her personal

possession to others.”

“Is it really fine for you, the principal of Brightmoon Academy, to gossip

about your own subordinates?”

…

Amidst their conversation, they finally arrived in the vicinity of the gazebo.

Jiang Luofu kept a distance away while Zu An walked toward the gazebo

by himself.

Even from a distance away, he could see a person with long fluttering hair

sitting in the gazebo, dressed in an attire that resembled that of Shang

Liuyu’s.

But bro, have you ever seen how wide your back is? Even if you wear a

woman’s clothes, there’s no one in the world who could possibly mistake

you for a lady, let alone someone as beautiful as Shang Liuyu!

Who could have possibly thought that the sect master of the Plum Blossom

Sect would actually be a cross-dressing perv!

However, out of consideration that Mei Chaofeng had gone all out to even

dress up for the occasion, it would be rude of Zu An not to cooperate with

him.

“Big sister Shang, why did you ask me out here?” Zu An called out Mei

Chaofeng with a tender voice. Of course, he made sure not to get too close

to the gazebo lest the latter OHKO’d him.

“You thought that it was Shang Liuyu, but it’s I, Mei Chaofeng!

Hahahaha!” Mei Chaofeng tossed the wig he was wearing aside, ripped up

the dress he was wearing on top of his clothes, and turned around to face Zu

An triumphantly.

“H-how could it be you? Where’s big sister Shang?!” exclaimed Zu An in

horror.

In the shadows, Jiang Luofu rolled her eyes. Wow, his acting sure is

horrendous.

“There’s no big sister Shang here. It has been me from the start to the end!

Are you surprised? Hahaha!”

The fluster in Zu An’s eyes left Mei Chaofeng feeling so exhilarated that he

could moan in pleasure! He had suffered so much due to Zu An over the

last few days, and he was finally able to return the favor now!

“It’s you!” Zu An subconsciously staggered backward in fright. “No, this

can’t be. How could your arms possibly stretch into the academy too?!”

“It’s all thanks to the young master’s massive influence, or else it would

have been hard for me to grab hold of the slippery loach you are!”

Mei Chaofeng was in no hurry to kill Zu An. it’s all due to this bastard that

I ended up losing everything. How could I let him off the hook so easily? I

need to make him suffer and enjoy his screams of agony in order to placate

the wrath boiling in my blood!

“Is the young master you’re talking about Shi Kun?”

Zu An already knew their relationship beforehand, but the same couldn’t be

said about the woman listening in to their conversation. He was trying to

get Mei Chaofeng to confess to it before her.

“Of course it’s…” Halfway through his words Mei Chaofeng suddenly

realized that he was being sounded out here. So, he harrumphed coldly and

said, “Hmph, you want to know who the young master is? I won’t let you

have your way! I want you to die indignant and ignorant!”

“You want to kill me?” Zu An clasped his head in horror. “I’m the son-in-

law of the Chu clan, as well as a teacher of the academy. If you dare to

touch me, neither the Chu clan nor the academy will let you off!”

“Hahaha, I might have hesitated over that in the past, but what do I have to

lose now? Thanks to you, I’ve lost everything. There’s no way I can remain

in Brightmoon City anymore. After killing you, I’ll head to another city and

live a carefree life. Once I’m gone, what can the Chu clan or the academy

do about me?” Mei Chaofeng laughed coldly.

“They have already put out a warrant for you. You could have simply left

the city, but you chose to bear the risk in order to assassinate me. Someone

must have promised you a new life elsewhere if you successfully take my

life!” Zu An continued trying to probe deeper.

“Does it make a difference? You’re an eyesore to me. I should have sliced

you into pieces right from the start!” sneered Mei Chaofeng. “Why don’t

you try kneeling down and begging me for mercy? I might just consider

having mercy on you and bestow upon you a quick death!”

Of course, even if Zu An really pleaded for mercy, there was no way he

would let Zu An die an easy death. He wanted to humiliate Zu An by

making him beg like a dog before plunging him into despair by reneging on

his words.

Seeing this, Zu An sighed softly and said, “What makes you so certain that

you’d be able to kill me?”

“Your confidence must be bursting after defeating Yuan Wendong in the

Clans Tournament yesterday,” scoffed Mei Chaofeng. “You must be

unaware that Yuan Wendong is a weakling who has only barely managed to

reach the fifth rank. Despite his weakness, he still got complacent and fell

for your tricks, resulting in his defeat. But before me, you stand no chance

at all!”

Right after saying those words, his powerful aura burst forth as he took a

step forward. He eyed Zu An intently, hoping to relish in the terror reflected

in the latter’s eyes.

Unfortunately, Zu An wasn’t giving him what he wanted. “It’s no wonder

why you ended up serving others your entire life. The scope and depth of

your thoughts are narrowed by your long years of subordination. All you

think of is minor schemes and pitting your life against others. However, for

those who are in positions of power like me, we don’t even have to lift a

finger to deal with someone like you.”

“???” Jiang Luofu.

Mei Chaofeng was taken aback by those words. He anxiously scanned the

surroundings, and after confirming that there was no one around, he

laughed disdainfully. “Don’t even bother with that pathetic act of yours.

The Chu clan’s guards are currently waiting at the entrance of the academy,

so there’s no way they’ll be able to make it here on time. Even if they did

come to your rescue, they aren’t a match for me either.”

“Who said that I’m talking about them?” Zu An shrugged. “Shouldn’t you

have looked into my background before assassinating me? You should

know that my nickname in the academy is ‘Moochlord’. Except for special

cases like the Clans Tournament, I wouldn’t even bother dirtying my hands

with my enemies’ blood!”

“You’re the most shameless man I’ve ever seen. You don’t even have the

slightest sense of shame for mooching off other women!” scoffed Mei

Chaofeng.

“It’s a capability in itself to be able to mooch off others; what do I have to

be embarrassed about?” replied Zu An disdainfully. “If you’re jealous, why

don’t you try mooching off a woman too? If you can, that is.”

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +514 Rage!

“I…” Mei Chaofeng choked at Zu An’s remark. It took him quite a while

before he was able to compose himself. “Yuan Wendong might be trash, but

he did get one thing right—it’s futile to rely on women. In the end, the only

one whom you can really count on is yourself. Look at the current situation,

who can you summon to save you now? Chu Chuyan? Pei Mianman? Or

Shang Liuyu? Try calling them here now then.”

The Shi clan had already done its homework in advance. Chu Chuyan and

Pei Mianman were not in the academy today, and Shang Liuyu wasn’t

known for her cultivation. As for Chu Huanzhao, Ji Xiaoxi, and the others,

they didn’t pose a threat to him at all.

“Try calling a woman out right now then. Aren’t you proud of your

mooching skills?” sneered Mei Chaofeng.

Zu An shook his head and said, “Someone like you is destined to never

understand the frustrations of a popular man like me. Forget it, I’ll fulfill

your wish this once then. Gorgeous principal, come out!”

“Gorgeous principal? Jiang Luofu?!” Mei Chaofeng gasped in horror.

If Zu An wasn’t lying to him, it would really be disastrous. A cultivator of

Jiang Luofu’s level could slaughter him as easily as squashing an ant. Out

of fright, he quickly scanned the surroundings, but to his relief, nothing

happened at all.

“Hahaha, you’re making me laugh my head out! You actually thought that

you could mooch off Principal Jiang? Who do you think you are? Stop

daydreaming here!” Mei Chaofeng was finally able to set his heart at ease.

“However, you did remind me that we are too close to the academy right

now. Someone might just come by if I continue to dawdle here. Since that’s

the case… meet your death!”

Blue lightning crackled around Mei Chaofeng’s fist as he charged forward

and smashed it toward Zu An. The sheer force of his attack was so great

that even before it landed, Zu An already found himself suffocating under

its might.

“Holy shit!” Seeing that Jiang Luofu wasn’t making a move at all, Zu An

realized that he might have gone too far this time around.

Chapter 134: They Are My Wife

and Children Now!

Zu An immediately used the fake Sunflower Phantasm to dodge to the side,

successfully surviving Mei Chaofeng’s first strike.

Unfortunately, Mei Chaofeng had seen his movement skill the other day

too, so he knew how to overcome it as well. With a cold harrumph, he

hurled another punch over, but this time, he made sure to seal off Zu An’s

path of escape.

Cornered, Zu An had no choice but to use the real Sunflower Phantasm to

dodge this strike. While evading the attack, he cried aloud, “Gorgeous

Principal Jiang, I know my mistakes now! Save me! If I die here, there

won’t be anyone to help you take over the Plum Blossom Sect!”

“Hm?” Mei Chaofeng had no idea how Zu An managed to dodge his attack

at all. Perplexed, he hurriedly tried to follow up with another attack, only to

recoil in shock in the next moment.

A woman had suddenly appeared right in front of Zu An.

Her long beautiful legs were as attractive as ever, but Mei Chaofeng’s

attention was captured by the pencil she was holding in her hand. “P-

Principal Jiang!”

Zu An heaved a sigh of relief. “Principal Jiang, you’re finally willing to

come out!”

“Didn’t you say that someone who is in a position of power like you and

need not lift a finger at all? What a wonder it is for me to spot you in such a

terrible position, isn’t it? Hm?” remarked Jiang Luofu with an enigmatic

smile.

“Hahaha, my useless mouth just can’t help but brag. Don’t mind it too

much!” Zu An laughed it off sheepishly. This woman sure is narrow-

minded. She actually got offended by those remarks.

“I heard that you’re intending to mooch off me too?” However, Jiang Luofu

wasn’t intending on letting him off the hook so easily.

“Of course I am!” replied Zu An matter-of-factly.

“What did you say?” Jiang Luofu frowned.

“I mean, I haven’t managed to mooch off you yet.” Zu An quickly changed

his words. “Hey, Mei Chaofeng is getting away!”

While the two of them were chattering off, Mei Chaofeng immediately

sprinted off with all his might. From the moment Jiang Luofu appeared

before his eyes, he had already realized that there was no way he would be

able to kill Zu An anymore. In fact, under normal circumstances, he would

have already been a goner, but by a stroke of luck, she ended up getting

distracted, creating an opening for him to escape.

Jiang Luofu raised her head calmly before casually swiping the pencil in

her hand across the air with a cold harrumph.

Mei Chaofeng felt a chilling sensation on his legs before abruptly tumbling

forward.

“What happened?”

Bewildered by this mystifying situation, he turned around to take a look,

only to see his legs standing upright on the ground several meters behind

him. Then, he lowered his head to take a look at himself and saw that half

of his legs had been amputated. It was also then that the pain finally started

setting in, and he let out of a shriek of agony.

Zu An gulped. He secretly glanced at Jiang Luofu’s side profile as he

quietly patted his chest in relief.

Holy shit! I didn’t know she was this strong! If she really held a grudge

against me for all of the remarks I’ve made, wouldn’t I have already died

several times by now?

Just look at what happened to Mei Chaofeng!

Ah, but again, he isn’t as good-looking as I am. It might just be the disparity

in our looks.

“I’ll leave the rest to you.” Jiang Luofu couldn’t even be bothered to talk to

Mei Chaofeng. She took a seat in the gazebo and naturally rested her legs

on the bench.

Zu An walked over to Mei Chaofeng’s side gleefully and gazed down at

him from above, “You thought that it was just me, but Principal Jiang is

here too! Are you surprised?”

“…” Mei Chaofeng.

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +1024 Rage!

He would have never known that the tables would be turned on him so

quickly. The words that he had just spoken were returned to him right away.

“You son of a bitch! What are you acting so smug for? You’re nothing more

than a weakling who relies on women!” Mei Chaofeng gritted his teeth

furiously.

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +1024 Rage!

Zu An sighed deeply and said, “Don’t you think that it takes true skills to be

able to tap into the strength of others?”

“How could you possibly be able to get Principal Jiang’s help? This is

impossible…” murmured Mei Chaofeng in disbelief. He couldn’t accept

how things had turned out.

“This is the privilege entitled to good-looking people like me. Hideous

beings like you will never understand it.” Zu An looked at Mei Chaofeng in

pity.

“…” Mei Chaofeng.

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +666 Rage!

Zu An took a step sideward to dodge the blood spurting out of Mei

Chaofeng’s wounds due to his emotions getting the better of him.

Wow. The people in this world sure are tenacious like cockroaches. Even in

such a state, he still hasn’t fainted yet.

“This reminds me of my encounter with Plum Blossom Twelve. He also

persevered for a very long time before he finally collapsed,” remarked Zu

An cheerily.

“You were indeed the one who killed Twelve!” Mei Chaofeng glared at Zu

An furiously. Just thinking about how he had the tables turned on him

yesterday despite having spoken the truth made blood rush to his head in a

fit of anger.

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +999 Rage!

Zu An walked up to Mei Chaofeng and squatted down in front of him.

“Plum Blossom Twelve tried to kill me, so I returned the favor to him. It’s

justified self-defense. Now that I’ve satisfied your curiosity, it’s time for

you to spill the beans. Tell me where your accounting book and assets are.

And not to forget, your connections with other officials, your supply routes,

and all of the vital information concerning your businesses.”

Mei Chaofeng had chosen to lie down on the ground, seemingly having

accepted his fate. Nevertheless, Zu An’s words still made him laugh in

ridicule, “Just how foolish do you think I am to tell you all of those?”

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +730 Rage!

“Don’t you know that being able to die an easy death is a blessing as well?”

Zu An sighed deeply as he gazed down at Mei Chaofeng with eyes filled

with sympathy.

“Hmph! Try your worst then! I won’t be a man if I even let out even a

squeak!” The Plum Blossom Sect had tortured innumerable people over the

years for information, so Mei Chaofeng was familiar with how interrogation

worked.

“It looks like people in this world really do lack imagination. Well, let me

educate you a little.” Zu An moved a boulder from the side over and settled

himself down on it, reminiscent of a bard getting into a comfortable

position for a long story.

“You should have heard about how eels and loaches dive into any holes that

they see, right? If I strip you bare and throw into a barrel filled with eels

and loaches, where do you think they’ll head into?

“If that isn’t enough for you to talk, we could have you buried into the

ground, revealing only just your head. I’d slice the skin at the top of your

head and pour mercury in. Before long, you’ll find yourself itching from

head to toe. It would be so unbearable that you would be wiggling

desperately, hoping to alleviate the itch, but of course, what could you do

when you’re stuck in the ground with nowhere to go. Eventually, you’re left

with no choice but to dive out, tearing your skin out of your body. Hmmm,

would a person without skin start bleeding profusely? I guess we could put

that to the test.”

…

Those bizarre torture methods made even Jiang Luofu’s heart skip a beat.

Where in the world did someone as young as him learn of all of these

vicious means?

“Brat, kill me if you want to! There’s no use talking such crap with me!”

Despite Mei Chaofeng’s words of bravado, his quivering voice gave his fear

away. He suddenly felt that the Plum Blossom Sect didn’t look that vile

anymore compared to the great villain standing before him.

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +444 Rage!

“I’m not done yet. Based on what I know, you fooled around with quite a

few women over the years. You don’t harbor any feelings for most of them,

but it seems there’s an exception. If my memory fails me not, there’s a

woman living in the northern part of the city who goes by the name of

Wang Cuihua. She bore twins for you, did she? Ahh, it must be relieving for

you to depart with the knowledge that your blood continues to exist in this

world even after your death,” remarked Zu An with a smile.

Mei Chaofeng’s eyes immediately reddened. He quickly turned to Jiang

Luofu and roared anxiously, “Principal Jiang, is the academy going to

condone such actions? ‘Never bring one’s family into the picture’—that’s a

rule that even those in the underworld like us observe!”

Before Jiang Luofu could respond, Zu An had already cut right in. “Who

says that I’m going to harm them? I just want to reassure you that you don’t

have to worry about them after your death. I’ll make sure to take good care

of your wife and raise your children as if my own. Ah, I should probably

call them my wife and my children now.”

“You!!!” Mei Chaofeng was so angry that he wanted to lurch at Zu An to

tear his head off, but Jiang Luofu’s earlier strike had severed his ki

meridians as well, leaving him utterly powerless at the moment.

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +999 Rage!

“Have you thought it through yet?” asked Zu An. “Do you want to just get

it over and done with, or do you want to first suffer a little first before

finally caving in to my demands? I don’t particularly mind it either way.”

Why in the hell did I get myself involved with this demon!

Mei Chaofeng began sobbing sorrowfully. He was intending to grit his teeth

through Zu An’s torture and die a valiant death, but he wasn’t even given

that option at all. He knew deep down that he would never toil through the

tortures Zu An spoke of, not to mention that the latter was even holding his

wife and children as hostages against him.

This wasn’t even a choice at all.

“There are two accounting books for the Plum Blossom Sect. One of them

is in the secret chamber in my study room, and the other one is located in a

secret compartment in my bedroom…”

Mei Chaofeng stared numbly at the blue sky above him as he monotonously

revealed everything regarding the Plum Blossom Sect.

“Fucking Zu An, you’ll die a horrible death!” Mei Chaofeng cursed with

gritted teeth. He could already feel himself coming closer to death’s

embrace as blood continued to flow out of his legs.

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +999 Rage!

Zu An smiled in response, “My apologies, but according to my wife, good

people tend to die prematurely whereas vermins plague the world for

centuries. It looks like I still have hundreds of years ahead of me.”

Pu~

Unable to take it anymore, Mei Chaofeng spurted a mouthful of blood.

Just like that, the powerhouse who had ruled Brightmoon City’s underworld

for decades was angered to death. Even in his dying breath, his eyes

continued to glower in indignation.

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +1024 Rage!

Zu An rushed over to the gazebo and exclaimed excitedly, “Gorgeous

principal, I’ve accomplished my mission perfectly!”

Jiang Luofu looked at Zu An with a conflicted gaze. “It must be agonizing

to be your enemy.”

Zu An flashed her an innocent smile in response, saying, “I’m also glad that

you’re a friend too.”

Jiang Luofu harrumphed softly before rising to her feet. “Let’s go, I’ll get

someone to clean up this area afterward. As for the takeover of the Plum

Blossom Sect later on, I’ll send someone over to help you with it later on.”

“You can leave it to me!” Zu An patted his chest as he gave his guarantee.

Just like that, the two of them returned to the academy.

…

Two hours later, Shi Kun finally heard of the news and ended up dropping

his cup onto the floor. “Mei Chaofeng is dead? How can that be possible?”

Shi Lezhi replied grimly, “I’ve verified it personally. There’s no doubt

about it.”

“This doesn’t make sense. Mei Chaofeng is a pinnacle fifth rank cultivator,

so killing Zu An should have been a walk in the park for him. How could he

have failed?” Shi Kun couldn’t understand what was going on.

Snow remarked softly by the side, “Young master, someone spotted Zu An

returning back to the academy together with Principal Jiang.”

“Jiang Luofu? Are you saying that she’s working with Zu An now?” Shi

Kun was appalled. Jiang Luofu’s cultivation and standing made her a

dangerous enemy. He would think twice whether he really had the means to

deal with her right now.

“It should just be a coincidence. Mei Chaofeng might have just been

unlucky to bump into her,” remarked Shi Lezhi. Not even in his wildest

imagination could he fathom any sort of relationship between Zu An and

Jiang Luofu.

Shi Kun also shared the same thoughts too. “Goddamnit! Why does that

scoundrel have such good luck?”

This was not the first trap he had laid for Zu An, but the latter was able to

overcome them every single time.

“Young master, the Ursae Dungeon will be opening three days from now.

No one will know if we make a move against him there. I’ll make a move

personally then to destroy him for good!” said Snow.

Shi Kun nodded in agreement. “That’s the best we can do for now. I’ll bring

in a batch of people into the dungeon to aid you.”

As Zu An got stronger, the threat he posed would become greater as well.

Every night that passed, there was a chance that the woman he had set his

eyes upon could lose her chastity. This was not something he could accept.

Chapter 135: The Tenth Beauty

Over the next three days, Zu An busied himself with taking over the

businesses and connections of the Plum Blossom Sect under the aid of the

academy.

Shi Kun was aware of his movements, but he chose not to make a move at

all. That fellow is dead meat once we enter the Ursae Dungeon anyway.

There’s no reason for me to deal with him right now.

Meanwhile, the academy also began holding selections for the dungeon

slots. All fifth rank cultivators received a free pass whereas the others had

to undergo an intense tournament to prove themselves qualified.

The dungeon was filled with dangers after all. A weakling who couldn’t

protect himself in the dungeon was likely to end up dying in vain.

At the end of the selection, the weakest cultivator to get selected to enter the

dungeon was at third rank.

The world of cultivation was truly pragmatic.

Just like what Jiang Luofu had mentioned, chances were reserved only for

those who proved themselves worthy. The round of selections ensured that

those who could enter were all experts, and the opportunities offered in the

dungeon would only further widen the disparity between the strong and the

weak. This meant that the weak would never be able to catch up with the

footsteps of the strong.

It looks like it’s the same for all worlds, huh? Lag behind others for one

step, and you’ll lag behind them your entire life.

Once again, Zu An was gladdened by the connections he had. He was able

to reserve a slot for himself without having to undergo the selections at all.

Wahahaha!

The morning of the third day, the selected students marched off to the

mountain at the back of Brightmoon Academy, a place which was usually

forbidden to both students and teachers alike.

A major reason why the royal court had been able to monopolize the

dungeons was because most major academies were established in the

vicinity of dungeons. There were even some academies where a dungeon

was located on the academy compound, and such was the case for

Brightmoon Academy.

Dungeons had existed in this world since time immemorial, and the ki

around them tended to be far richer. Having academies established near

dungeons created favorable cultivation conditions for the students.

There was a clearing in the middle of the bamboo forest behind Brightmoon

Academy, where several straw huts stood. In each of these straw huts

resided a senior teacher of the academy. It seemed like they were camping

out here to guard something.

At the very center of the clearing was a gate-like structure that somewhat

resembled a door. Space in the center of this door appeared a little distorted,

creating something reminiscent of a vortex.

“This is the entrance into the dungeon. This door usually looks no different

from the gates you would see in the city, and only on specific days would

you see it in its current state. It should take a while longer before the portal

is fully opened.” Chu Chuyan was here with Zu An today. Noticing the

curious gleam in his eyes, she began explaining to him how things worked

here.

“You seem to be very knowledgeable about all of this. Have you entered

this dungeon before?” asked Zu An.

Chu Chuyan shook her head and replied, “This dungeon only opens once

every few decades, so it’s my first time here too. It’s a pity that Huanzhao is

missing this opportunity due to her injuries.”

Chu Huanzhao wanted to come too, but the injuries she had sustained at the

Clans Tournament were simply too severe. Her fighting prowess was only

so-so even at her peak condition, let alone in her weakened state. Out of

worry for her, Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru forbade her from entering the

dungeon.

Due to this, she threw quite a huge tantrum. In the end, she forced Zu An to

bring back some ‘local specialties’ from the dungeon for her before finally

revealing a smile.

“I still don’t understand why you insist on entering this dungeon. You

should have heard of the dangers that lurk within dungeons, right?” asked

Chu Chuyan.

A smile formed on Zu An’s lips as he replied, “Are you worried about me?”

Chu Chuyan replied impassively, “I’m just giving you a warning lest you

die foolishly in there. It would be troublesome for our Chu clan to find

another son-in-law!”

“Rest assured, I’m a person born under a lucky star. I’ll definitely be able to

walk out of the dungeon alive,” replied Zu An cheekily.

Chu Chuyan turned her head away with a cold harrumph.

“Chuyan, your husband is going in too? Do you need us to look after him as

well?” a seductively sweet voice suddenly sounded.

Zu An turned around to take a look, only to find himself faced with huge

racks.

Pei Mianman keeps strutting around parading that good figure of hers. Does

she not know how embarrassing it is for men to have a bleeding nose in

public?!

“There’s no need for that. How can he mature under the protection of

others? Besides, he’s entering the dungeon as a teacher. It wouldn’t do for

him to be taken care of by his students instead,” replied Chu Chuyan.

“Oh? You’re finally acknowledging that I’m a teacher now, uh? Come, call

me Teacher Zu~” said Zu An.

Chu Chuyan choked on her breath. Unable to stand this fellow anymore,

she ignored him and stomped away.

“How does it feel to have a beautiful wife whom you can see but not

touch?” Pei Mianman walked over to Zu An’s side and asked teasingly.

“Why don’t you let me touch you, and I’ll give you an answer to your

question?” replied Zu An.

“Are you cheating on your wife in public? What a horrible man you are~”

Pei Mianman giggled softly.

Seeing their interactions, Chu Chuyan frowned a little. “Mianman, what are

you doing over there?”

While she didn’t think that she was fond of Zu An, he was still her husband

in-name. How could he flirt together with other women right in front of

her?

“I’m coming~” replied Pei Mianman. She blinked at Zu An and said, “Your

wife is getting jealous. This is a good start. Don’t forget our deal. You need

to help me look for my accounting book.”

Leaving behind a peal of seductive laughter that seeped right into one’s

bones, she turned around and took her leave. The men in the vicinity felt

their hearts tingling in response to her laughter, which induced them to

direct irked looks toward Zu An.

Just what’s so great about this guy that he’s able to win the fancy of so

many beautiful women?

Shi Kun had also been watching their interaction, and his eyes flickered in

worry. “I didn’t think Pei Mianman is on such good terms with that

scoundrel. Will she get in the way of our plans?”

Shi Lezhi shook his head and replied, “I don’t think so. However, to be

safe, we can get someone to lure her away first before making a move.”

Shi Kun nodded in agreement. “It’s a pity that you aren’t able to enter the

dungeon with us, or else assassinating Zu An would have been a walk in the

park.”

Shi Lezhi looked at the teachers guarding the dungeon’s portal and said,

“Jiang Luofu will be personally standing guard with these teachers while

the portal is active in order to prevent unauthorized cultivators from

entering the portal and threatening the students. I don’t think it’s possible

for me to sneak in under their eyelids. However, the squad we have

prepared is more than enough to kill Zu An ten times over, so I reckon that

nothing will go wrong.”

“It’s fortunate that we spent a great deal of effort to slip Snow into the

academy back then. It looks like we’re finally reaping the fruits of our

labor,” replied Shi Kun with a nod.

“Speaking of which, the cultivation technique Snow practices is rather

queer. It’s bizarre how no one in the academy has found out about her yet,”

remarked Shi Lezhi.

“It seems to be a special ability of her clan. We should ask her more about it

after this.” Shi Lezhi looked at a slender figure standing amidst the students

with a satisfied smile on his lips. He was confident about his preparations

too.

More and more people were gathering in this clearing, and all of them had

excited looks on their faces. They were looking forward to entering the

dungeon and stumbling upon all sorts of fortuitous encounters. If things go

well, it might just spell their rise to greatness.

Zu An noticed that there were quite a few familiar faces amidst the crow,

such as Bai Susu, Lu De, Xie Xiu, Wu Qing, Zheng Dan, Ji Xiaoxi, and

many others. Of course, there were many more students that he didn’t

recognize, but they were likely to be students from the Sky class or Earth

class.

Spotting Zheng Dan amidst the crowd, Zu An couldn’t help but wonder

why she hadn’t been using her honey trap on him in recent days. News of

Mei Chaofeng’s death had already spread far and wide, so it should have

been an opportune moment for her to strike so as to claim the businesses of

the Plum Blossom Sect. Or was she remaining idle because she thought that

the 7,500,000 silver taels debt note had become scrap paper?

Ji Xiaoxi still looks as adorable as ever; it’s just a pity that she’s lathered

with poison all over. I can’t even touch her hand.

While scanning through the students, Zu An caught sight of a slender figure

dressed in light green. Despite having concealed her face with a translucent

veil, the faint outline of facial features left hardly any doubt that she was a

beautiful woman.

Who is she? I don’t recall having seen her in the academy before. She’s

ravishing.

Hm? Her facial features look a little familiar…

It was also about then that he heard whispers coming from the students

around him.

“Waaa, is that the mysterious tenth place of the Sweetheart Ranking?”

“It’s extremely rare to see her at the academy. It looks like she’s finally

making an appearance due to the dungeon.”

“Hmm, what’s her name again? Why can’t I remember it?”

“I think she’s called Qiao Xue-something?”

“Isn’t it something Xueying?”

“Nonono, I remember it to be Qiao something-Ying.”

…

Zu An burst into laughter upon hearing their discussion. Those dunces. If

you put it all together, isn’t it just Qiao Xueying? Ah? Why does this name

sound so familiar?

Wait a moment, what’s her name again? Why can’t I remember it all of a

sudden?

Zu An’s mind suddenly fuzzed out. Many names suddenly popped up in his

mind simultaneously, and every single one of them seemed right yet not

really so to him, leaving him utterly muddled.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +233 Rage!

What?

The sudden notification from the system cleared Zu An’s mind in an instant.

It’s Snow! What is she doing here?

When he spotted Shi Kun earlier, he scanned the latter’s entourage and

noticed that Snow was conspicuously missing. It was weird why her name

was popping up here all of a sudden.

He began to scan the entire clearing for anyone who could possibly be

Snow, and eventually, his eyes fell upon the mysterious tenth place of the

Sweetheart Ranking.

For a moment there, he seemed to see rage reflected in her eyes, but it

vanished in a split moment that it left him wondering if he was seeing

things.

He thought about how Wei Suo was unable to recall the name of the tenth

beauty while introducing the top ten of the Sweetheart Ranking to him, and

he suddenly noticed something really queer about that. Given Wei Suo’s

personality, it was nigh impossible for him to forget the name of a beauty.

Just earlier on, the whispering students knew all of the characters to her

name, but for some inexplicable reason, they weren’t able to piece it all

together with certainty. Even Zu An himself ended up forgetting the name

in a sudden moment of daze.

If not for the system’s notification, he could have ended up like the other

students too.

So, the elusive tenth beauty of the academy is actually Snow?!

No matter how wild Zu An’s imagination could have been, there was no

way he could have fathomed such a plot development. She’s a maidservant

in the Chu clan, but at the same time, she’s also a student in the academy

too? How in the world did she manage to do it? Shouldn’t the Chu clan be

aware of it too?

In fact, it’s bizarre how someone as meticulous as Chu Chuyan failed to

realize that her personal maidservant was her classmate too!

While he was still shocked over this matter, Jiang Luofu suddenly began

walking toward the portal. As per usual, her legs veiled in stockings swiftly

drew heated gazes from the nearby men. For some reason, she was wearing

a pair of glasses today, which had the effect of mellowing down her usual

domineering aura to draw out an air of elegance instead.

The crowd immediately fell silent. Other than Zu An, there was hardly

anyone who would dare to act unruly in Jiang Luofu’s presence, especially

not with that imposing disposition of hers.

Jiang Luofu walked to the front of the crowd and shot a sweeping glance

across the students before saying, “There’s still an hour before the Ursae

Dungeon opens. Before then, there are some things which I have to remind

you of.

“You are elites of the academy, chosen through careful selections. Most of

you are ambitious and bear great expectations for the dungeon, hoping to

stumble upon all kinds of fortuitous encounters inside. There’s no doubt

that there are many opportunities awaiting you, but you ought to know that

there are all kinds of dangers lurking within there too. Despite our warnings

and the measures put in place, we would still have several casualties each

time the dungeon opens. I don’t expect it to be any different for your group.

There are bound to be some who would lose their lives inside the dungeon

for good.”

Unease appeared on the faces of the crowd as they began whispering softly

to one another.

Chapter 136: Who's Taking Care of

Who?

Everyone had some idea of the dangers they were going to face in the

dungeon, but subconsciously, they were still more focused on the gains

rather than the risks. However, having someone of Principal Jiang’s

standing emphasizing this issue forced them to take the risks seriously.

“It’s not too late to back down now. Once you enter the dungeon, you’ll

have to last till the tenth day, when the dungeon finally closes, in order to be

teleported out. There’s no way for you to leave in advance once you pass

through the portal,” Jiang Luofu scanned the crowd as she pointed out the

risks calmly. “All of you have signed the liability waiver beforehand, so

you should know that the academy will not be taking responsibility for

anything that happens to you inside the dungeon.”

The students glanced at one another in uncertainty, but none of them was

willing to back down. It was hard for them to come this far, so they couldn’t

bring themselves to back out now just like that.

“The map of the Ursae Dungeon is randomized each time we enter it. Even

with teachers guiding the way, it won’t make too much of a difference,”

said Jiang Luofu. “All fourth rank and fifth rank cultivators will be moving

on their own inside the dungeon. With your cultivation rank, you should be

able to protect yourself. If you really wish to put your abilities to the test

and sharpen your edge, it’d be best for you to move independently. As for

the rest of you, you’ll be following a teacher and exploring the dungeon in a

group.”

At this point, Jiang Luofu paused for a brief moment before continuing on,

“In previous years, if an individual wishes to move independently, we

would allow him to do as he pleases. However, there seems to be something

unusual about this dungeon this time around, so it’ll be better to tread

carefully. If you haven’t reached fourth rank yet, I recommend you to stay

close to a teacher.”

The crowd was a little disappointed to hear those words. They knew that it

would be safer being by a teacher’s side, but that also meant that they

would get less out of the dungeon as well. Any fortuitous encounters they

stumbled along the way would have to be shared with everyone else.

At that moment, a voice suddenly sounded, “Principal Jiang, are there any

rules as to which students are paired to which teacher? After all, there are

some teachers whose levels of strength are a little concerning to us.

Wouldn’t it be unfair if we are forcefully assigned into their groups?”

It was from Shi Kun.

If they wanted to deal with Zu An, it would be best for there to be fewer

people by his side.

As he said those words, he turned his gaze toward Zu An, and laughter

broke out amidst the crowd. It was indeed true that Zu An’s cultivation rank

was lower than many of the students present, so how could they count on

him when danger struck?

Jiang Luofu naturally knew whom Shi Kun was referring to, and she replied

calmly, “Since this involves the safety of our students, we won’t be

enforcing the student to join any groups. The students are free to choose

which teacher they wish to go with.”

As soon as those words were spoken, the students immediately rushed over

toward some of the teachers, as if fearing that the academy would back

down on its words.

“I choose Teacher Bai!”

“I choose Discipline Master Lu!”

“I choose Uncle Wang!”

…

It didn’t take long for the students to finish their selection. There were many

students who picked Bai Susu and Lu De, which wasn’t surprising since

they were the strongest teachers in the academy. Most teachers also had a

couple of students around them too.

There was just one glaring exception—Zu An. He didn’t have a single

person by his side at all.

Laughter sounded in the clearing. Most students still tried to hold it back a

little, but Shi Kun didn’t even bother concealing his ridicule at all.

Chu Chuyan frowned. Zu An was still her husband in-name, so it made her

feel uncomfortable to see him being publicly humiliated. She instinctively

wanted to group with him, but she suddenly thought about the earlier advice

for fifth rank cultivators to move independently. If she were to go to his side

now, it would only make others think that she was trying to protect them,

thus embarrassing him even further.

Qiao Xueying hesitated a little too. She was thinking of joining Zu An’s

group, and she could do so as her fifth rank cultivation hadn’t been revealed

yet. Being in the same group would make it much easier for her to make a

move on him.

But she decided against it in the end. It was simply too jarring for her to

join Zu An’s group right before everyone. Furthermore, if she was the only

one to return from the dungeon despite being paired with him, she would

surely come under doubt too. It wouldn’t be wise for her to make herself

stand out right now.

It was then that a timid voice sounded. “I’ll… join your group.”

Ji Xiaoxi shyly shuffled to Zu An’s side. Just saying these words aloud had

sapped her courage dry, leaving her small face completely reddened.

Zu An felt touched. She sure is kind. It was obvious that she was intending

to choose Bai Susu earlier, but upon seeing that there’s no one by my side,

she chose to come over here instead.

He was intending on rejecting her—just her goodwill would be enough for

him—but on second thought, he remembered that his motive in the dungeon

was to look for the Evanescent Lotus. Ji Xiaoxi was well-versed in all sorts

of medicine, so she might be able to offer him substantial help regarding

that. Thus, he decided to accept her in the end.

“Miss Ji, you must think twice! It’s too dangerous being by his side!”

“Indeed! He’s only a third rank cultivator. You should come with us

instead.”

…

Ji Xiaoxi’s popularity was really showing through right now. There were

many people who stood forward to advise her to change her mind.

“It’s fine. Teacher Zu is actually quite formidable too,” Ji Xiaoxi shook her

head as she replied with a soft tone.

Pei Mianman secretly poked the cold beauty standing next to her and said,

“Hey, it looks like your husband is quite popular with women.”

Chu Chuyan was surprised by Ji Xiaoxi’s action too. She had heard that Ji

Xiaoxi had stood up for him once in the academy, but still, the fact that she

was choosing him under such circumstances showed that they were really

quite close with one another.

“Tsk, yet another one has stepped forward.” Pei Mianman nudged Chu

Chuyan and gestured forward.

Chu Chuyan raised her head and saw Zheng Dan walking toward Zu An’s

side as well.

“What’s going on?”

The crowd was bewildered. They had never known Zheng Dan to be on

good terms with Zu An.

Seeing this, Zu An found himself unable to stifle his smile. “Is Miss Zheng

intending to join my group too?”

Zheng Dan shook her head and said, “That’s not it. There’s just one thing I

would like to inform you of.”

“Oh? What is it?” Zu An was perplexed.

Zheng Dan leaned closer to him and whispered softly, “You need to be

careful. Someone is intending to take your life in the dungeon.”

With those words, she flashed him a ravishing smile before returning back

to her group.

The crowd exhaled deeply in relief upon seeing Zheng Dan’s departure. It

would be insane if even Zheng Dan chooses Zu An too. There’s just no way

a man can be that popular.

Zu An, on the other hand, fell into deep thought. Someone is intending to

kill me? Is it Shi Kun and his group? Since even Snow is here today, it’s

likely that they’re trying to pull something.

Zheng Dan looked at the grave expression on Zu An’s face, and her lips

curled up a little.

If Zu An was too weak to escape from Shi Kun’s scheme, it wouldn’t

change anything at all, so Shi Kun wouldn’t blame her either. However, if

Zu An managed to get away, he would remember this debt and bear

goodwill toward her.

This was a sure-win situation for her no matter what happened.

It’s just a pity that Shi Kun is planning to have him assassinated in the

dungeon. It would have been a good opportunity to get close to him if I

could join his group. But now, I should probably keep my distance to avoid

getting implicated.

Jiang Luofu frowned a little when she saw Ji Xiaoxi choosing to go with Zu

An, but she chose to refrain from commenting on the matter. With the group

selection completed, she began wrapping up her speech, “The deeper you

proceed into the dungeon, the greater the degree of danger you’ll face.

Know your own limits and don’t blindly charge ahead. Ultimately, what you

can obtain in the dungeon depends on luck. There’s no need to force it.”

“Yes, Principal Jiang!” the students answered in unison.

It was then that the portal behind Jiang Luofu suddenly began distorting

further, creating circular ripples across its surface. It took a while before the

ripples finally calmed down, forming a light-blue translucent gateway.

Concentrated ki could be sensed coming from the other side of the gateway.

The crowd was excited. If the concentration of ki was already at such a high

level even while they were at the entrance of the portal, wouldn't it be even

more amazing once they were inside?

“The portal into the dungeon has fully opened. I wish all of you the best of

luck,” said Jiang Luofu.

With Lu De and Bai Susu leading the crowd, the students began making

their way through the portal into the dungeon. Shi Kun paused at the

entrance for a brief moment to turn around and look at Zu An. There was a

hint of glee on his face.

Zu An suddenly thought of something. Since that fellow is planning to

make use of the secrecy of the dungeon to assassinate me, can’t I do the

same too?

Chu Chuyan walked over to Zu An’s side and reminded softly, “There’s

something wrong with how Shi Kun is looking at you. You should follow

me once we’re in the dungeon later on just to be safe.”

However, Zu An shook his head. “I’m one of the teachers leading a group

after all. How could I let a student protect me?”

Chu Chuyan frowned. “Look at the occasion. You shouldn’t be bothered

about such stuff at a time like this.”

“If you really want to help me, help me keep a lookout for the Evanescent

Lotus,” said Zu An.

The more hands to help him, the better it would be. At least it was much

better than him fumbling around all alone.

“Evanescent Lotus?” Chu Chuyan was surprised. “What do you need it for?

It’s a legendary treasure known to be able to raise a person’s cultivation.

Even if I manage to find it, I don’t think that I’ll be willing to spare it to

anyone else.”

“That’s pretty frank of you. Oh well, treat it as if I hadn’t said that then.” Zu

An shrugged, not thinking much about it.

However, Ji Xiaoxi spoke up in agitation, “Big sister Chu, my father

prescribed medicine for him that only lacks the Evanescent Lotus now. He

needs it in order to cure his… trauma.”

The shy look on Ji Xiaoxi’s face was more than enough to tell Chu Chuyan

what she was referring to. Chu Chuyan shot an awkward gaze at Zu An’s

crotch as her face reddened as well. “Alright, I’ll help you keep a lookout

for it then. However, you shouldn’t bear too much expectation out of it. It’s

an elusive treasure that has mostly only been heard of in stories.”

Feeling too embarrassed talking about such a topic, Chu Chuyan quickly

turned her head away and walked off.

“Oh? What did you say to your wife for her to walk away in

embarrassment?” Pei Mianman walked over and asked in curiosity.

“It’s a secret. Haven’t you heard of the saying ‘A secret makes a man,

man’?” Zu An shook his finger.

“Your mouth sure spouts interesting stuff.” Pei Mianman chuckled softly.

“Alright, you should take care of yourself. Don’t get killed in there.”

After saying those words, she made her way into the dungeon.

Soon, the only ones left in the clearing were Zu An and Ji Xiaoxi. Just as

they were about to head to the portal, Jiang Luofu suddenly stopped the two

of them. “Take good care of her. If she loses even a strand of hair, you need

not bother coming out of the dungeon anymore.”

Zu An burst into laughter. “Principal Jiang, you’re too kind! I don’t need

Miss Ji to take care of me. Besides, you’re asking too much out of her.”

Jiang Luofu harrumphed coldly. “Are you an idiot? I said to take care of

her! You better make sure that not the slightest harm comes to her!”

“???” Zu An.

Chapter 137: Too Big!

Even when they were already inside the dungeon, Zu An was still unable to

snap out of it. He continued staring at Ji Xiaoxi in bewilderment, trying to

process what had just happened.

Ji Xiaoxi felt a little flustered under his intense stare. “Teacher Zu, what are

you looking at?”

“You’re being too distant, addressing me as a teacher.”

“Big… brother Zu.”

“Call me Ah Zu.”

“Ah Zu?”

Zu An circled around Ji Xiaoxi as he assessed her intently. He found it hard

to connect this adorable little lady before him to the cold, domineering

Jiang Luofu. Unable to take the intrigue anymore, he finally asked, “Is

Principal Jiang your mother?”

Ji Xiaoxi hurriedly shook her head. “That’s not it. She’s my little aunt.”

“Little aunt?” For some reason, Zu An heaved a deep sigh of relief upon

hearing that Principal Jiang wasn’t her mother. Indeed, how could ordinary

men be worthy of Principal Jiang? Only someone as suave as me can barely

qualify!

At the same time, he finally understood how Jiang Luofu came to know

about the sealing of ‘little Zu An’. He was still worried that those of a

certain cultivation rank could see through his condition, but fortunately, that

wasn’t the case. He wouldn’t dare to walk onto the street anymore if the

whole world were to learn of his impotence.

But speaking of which, while they were relatives, wasn’t it extremely

unprofessional of Ji Dengtu to share his condition with Jiang Luofu? Wasn’t

patient confidentiality the number one value all physicians had to uphold?

This also explained why Ji Dengtu, despite ogling at all of the women

around, chose to turn a blind eye to the most beautiful Jiang Luofu. It

turned out that he wasn’t in a good position to make a move at all.

Eh, that doesn’t make sense either. Ji Dengtu isn’t blood-related with Jiang

Luofu at all. Given his perverted nature, it’s odd that he bears no lustful

thoughts toward her at all!

“What’s wrong, Ah Zu?” Ji Xiaoxi noticed that the furrow on Zu An’s

forehead was tightening and loosening every now and then, so she asked

out of concern.

“Ah? It’s nothing at all. Oh right, where’s your mother? I don’t think I’ve

ever heard you mention her before.” Zu An tried to probe a little deeper.

Ji Xiaoxi lowered her face. “She was already gone while I was still an

infant. I have no recollections of her at all.”

As she spoke, her long eyelashes began quivering slightly as tears glistened

in her eyes. Seeing that she was on the verge of tears, Zu An immediately

panicked. “I shouldn’t have asked about that. Sorry, please don’t cry!”

Ji Xiaoxi sniffled a little as she wiped off her tears. She forced on a smile

and said, “I’m fine. I’m already used to it.”

With this, Zu An dared not to continue probing anymore. He would just

have to find another chance in the near future to enquire about it.

Following that, he began to assess their surroundings. They were on a plain

filled with yellowish blades of grass at the moment. It seemed to be autumn

here right now. There were a few smaller forests scattered here and there on

the plains, as well as a few short hills.

He could spot bits of black and yellow by the horizon, which appeared to be

a mountain range or something. It was just too far away that he wasn’t able

to confirm it.

This dungeon looks more normal than I thought.

Zu An heaved a sigh of relief. He had expected to be teleported into a world

where dinosaurs and all sorts of monsters ran rampant, but it turned out to

be not much different from the world outside.

The crowd who were still excited from entering the dungeon also gradually

calmed down too.

“Mianman, let’s go.” Chu Chuyan saw that Zu An was having fun chatting

away with Ji Xiaoxi, but her expression remained impassively cold as per

normal, making it hard to discern her thoughts. Her dress fluttered with a

tap of her feet, and within moments, she was already nothing more than a

disappearing dot in the distance.

“As expected of the number one prodigy of the academy. Her movement

skill is truly amazing.”

“As if it was her movement skill really caught your eye. You’re making it

so obvious that I feel bad trying to expose you.”

“Wipe your mouth. You’re drooling.”

…

“Protect yourself well. Don’t let yourself get killed~” Pei Mianman shot a

seductive look in Zu An’s direction as she relayed her voice to him via ki.

Leaving behind peals of tinkling laughter in the air, she also headed off in

the direction where Chu Chuyan had departed toward.

It would appear that they were planning on exploring the area together for

now, but considering the massive size of the dungeon, it was likely that they

would part ways eventually.

“Woah, that laughter. I feel like my soul almost got sucked out of my body.”

“Ahhh, I feel like my body is going to melt just by listening to it.”

“Nah, your body is just weak.”

…

Hearing the discussions around him, Zu An shook his head scornfully. Look

at how useless all of you are! I had my body pressed right next to hers on

the floor before, but I don’t even bother to boast about it. Yet, all of you are

getting so happy just because you got to listen to her laughter… Haaa, it’s

no wonder why you all are just students whereas I’m a teacher!

Shi Kun looked at the silhouettes of the two women and fell into deep

thoughts. I haven’t paid much attention to it in the past, but Pei Mianman is

truly alluring. From the way she looks to the way she acts, she emits an

irresistible seductive charm that men are fallible too. Those like Chu

Chuyan are suited to be wives, but Pei Mianman’s type would make perfect

lovers.

If I recall correctly, she’s not a member of the main lineage in the Pei clan. I

might just have a chance to make her mine.

In order to avoid suspicion later on, Shi Kun made sure to not come into

contact with Zu An or even look at him. No one would be able to pin the

blame on him this way.

“Good luck, everyone. I’ll be making a move first,” Shi Kun clasped his fist

at the crowd as he spoke. Other than Zu An and a few others who knew of

the devious plan he had concocted, his etiquette was perfect. Paired with his

good looks, it was likely that this gesture would win him quite a bit of

goodwill from the crowd.

The other fifth rank cultivators also began departing too.

“Those in my group, make sure to follow me closely so that you don’t get

lost.” Lu De beckoned to the students under him and led them off too. He

wasn’t particularly fond of Zu An, so he didn’t bother bidding the latter

goodbye.

Bai Susu, on the other hand, sashayed over and said, “Teacher Zu, would

you like to come with us?”

Zu An replied with a smile, “Teacher Bai, I appreciate your goodwill, but

we’re intending to explore on our own.”

You must be kidding! In all of the novels I’ve read, when has the

protagonist ever gone along with the group before? He would always move

all alone so that fortuitous encounters can fall on him and him alone.

My luck will be sullied if I follow you all!

“Alright then. You must make sure to take care of Xiaoxi, alright? There are

many in the academy who are fond of her, including me. If anything

happens to her… we won’t let you off,” said Bai Susu with a coy laugh.

“Teacher Bai, I can take care of myself!” Ji Xiaoxi’s face reddened. She

didn’t want to bring trouble to Zu An.

“You’re truly a kind person, Xiaoxi. Here, take this. If you ever find

yourself in a dangerous position, open it. I’ll rush over right away to save

you if I’m in the vicinity.” Bai Susu passed over an item that looked a little

like a signaling stick over to Ji Xiaoxi.

“Thanks, Teacher Bai.” Ji Xiaoxi accepted Bai Susu’s goodwill.

Even after Bai Susu left, there were still quite a few people who came over,

hoping to change Ji Xiaoxi’s mind. Seeing that her mind was made up, they

eventually settled with giving her medicine, weapons, or defensive artifacts.

Zu An was amazed. “Xiaoxi, I didn’t know you are so popular in the

academy. It’s almost as if you’re the academy’s pet!”

“Ah~ Aren’t you making fun of me by saying that I’m a pet?” Ji Xiaoxi

pouted in dissatisfaction.

“I’m saying that you’re adorable.” Zu An couldn’t help but think that even a

pouting Ji Xiaoxi looked incredibly adorable. He instinctively wanted to pet

her head, but recalling how his hands became hopelessly swollen the last

time he did so, he could only hesitantly retract his hand.

It’s almost like Ji Dengtu is projecting himself on the rest of the world. He

thinks that all men are as perverted as he is, so he goes to such an extent to

protect Ji Xiaoxi, not leaving any gaps at all.

His explanation placated Ji Xiaoxi, and she broke out in a smile. “Here, I

can’t use all of it myself. I’ll give some to you too.”

She stuffed some of the bottles of medicine and hidden weapons into Zu

An’s hands, which conveniently brought him a huge inflow of Rage points

too. He quickly took a look around him, only to see many of the male

students glaring daggers at him.

He was initially intending to attempt to reject the gifts out of politeness, but

the reactions of those around him changed his mind. He accepted

everything Ji Xiaoxi gave him heartily and said, “Thanks, Xiaoxi! Hahaha!”

It was yet another flood of Rage points.

Tsk tsk tsk. As your teacher, let me give you all a life lesson here:

Bootlickers have no future at all! You can fawn on women all you want, but

it’ll never get you anywhere!

“Cough cough. It looks like Brother Zu is always in the limelight no matter

where you go.” Xie Xiu walked over with a smile, feeling deeply impressed

with Zu An. He couldn’t fathom how Zu An was able to survive to this day

with how he was constantly attracting aggression from those around him.

Zu An straightened his back and cleared his throat before saying, “Please

call me Teacher Zu instead.”

“…” Xie Xiu.

What the hell? How am I supposed to follow up with that?

However, Zu An quickly changed his tune and said, “But in view of our

relationship, I’ll allow you to just call me Ah Zu!”

“Ah… Alright, Ah Zu.” Due to Zu An’s disruption, Xie Xiu nearly lost his

train of thought. “The dungeon only opens once every few decades. If

something happens here it’ll be nigh impossible to investigate the matter.

Due to that, it has always been an ideal place to kill and plunder. You must

make sure to tread carefully over the next ten days.”

“Hahaha, I didn’t expect you to be so concerned about me. Alright, I’ve

made up my mind. I’m going to make a friend out of you!” It was at this

point that Zu An abruptly changed the topic. “Speaking of which, that

beautiful woman sitting next to you during the previous Clans Tournament

is your older sister, right? Why didn’t she enter the dungeon too? Can you

introduce her to me?”

Xie Xiu was rendered speechless. Are you just trying to get close to me in

order to flirt with my big sister?

“My big sister isn’t interested in dungeons and that sort of stuff…” Xie Xiu

laughed awkwardly before swiftly fleeing the area. It felt rather

uncomfortable for him to be trying to get close to a man.

Before long, the only ones left at the starting point were Ji Xiaoxi and Zu

An. Ji Xiaoxi couldn’t help but remark, “Ah Zu, you’re a bad person.”

“How am I a bad person?” asked Zu An.

“You’re still trying to flirt around even though you’re already… already…”

Ji Xiaoxi shot a glance at Zu An’s crotch, but her shyness made her eyes

flicker around awkwardly. “… like that down there.”

“What do you know? This is called preparing for the future! I’ll be up and

going by the end of this dungeon anyway!” replied Zu An. “Only fools

would prepare for what that is right ahead of them. Those who are truly

wise like me are constantly thinking multiple steps ahead!”

Ji Xiaoxi blinked her eyes in surprise. She didn’t expect him to be so

optimistic. After all, finding the Evanescent Lotus in this massive dungeon

was like searching for a needle amidst the boundless ocean.

She felt that Zu An’s optimism was unfounded, but she couldn’t bear to

point it out and dampen his morale.

“Where should we head to?”

“We’ll head west! West all the way!”

…

The two of them chatted merrily while heading westward, but all of a

sudden, Zu An heard the sharp rustle of the wind. He immediately grabbed

Ji Xiaoxi’s arm and pulled her to the side.

Several yellowish thorns had pierced into the very spot they were standing

on earlier. Had they not moved away earlier, the thorns would have

penetrated their body, dealing severe damage to them.

“What’s going on?”

Zu An noticed a rat clicking its teeth in their direction. While it did

resemble a rat in terms of appearance, it was massive in size, comparable to

a warthog!

However, what was more important at the moment was the numbing pain

assaulting Zu An’s arm. He turned to Ji Xiaoxi with an exasperated look as

he said, “Xiaoxi, the antidote~”

Chapter 138: Don't Raise Flags!

Ji Xiaoxi was still staring at the humongous rat monsters in bewilderment,

having never seen them before despite frequently exploring the Hidden

Dragon Mountain.

Zu An’s words snapped her out of her thoughts, and she quickly took out a

blue pill from her bag and passed it over to him. “Hurry up and eat this. You

should be immune to my poison once you consume it.”

Zu An was surprised to hear those words. “Are you certain you want to give

it to me? Aren’t you afraid that I might attempt something once I’m

immune to the poison on your body?”

Ji Xiaoxi’s face reddened as she said, “You aren’t like any other men.

Besides, we’ll have to survive in this dungeon for ten days, so we’ll

definitely need to look out for one another. It’ll be inconvenient if you get

poisoned every time you touch me.”

Needless to say, Zu An understood what she meant by ‘you aren’t like any

other men’. He didn’t expect that being impotent would actually bring about

such a benefit. It was no wonder why many men in his previous life posed

as gays to approach women. It turned out that just by appearing non-

aggressive could greatly lower the guard of a woman.

“Did your father give you this pill?” asked Zu An.

Considering the extreme lengths Ji Dengtu went to in order to protect her, it

was unthinkable for him to prepare such an ‘exception’ too.

“I concocted it myself,” replied Ji Xiaoxi. “I learned quite a bit from my

father over the years, so I tried making it myself.”

Zu An nodded in realization, but he quickly noticed another problem. “Is

the pill safe? Are there any side effects from consuming it?”

Ji Xiaoxi quickly waved her hands and said, “Ah, don’t worry! I’ve chosen

medicinal herbs with milder properties, so you don’t need to worry about

suffering from side effects.”

Zu An was finally able to put aside his worries and swallow the pill. As

promised, the numbing pain on his hand swiftly vanished. To test out the

immunity effect of the pill, he tried touching Ji Xiaoxi’s robe, only to

ecstatically realize that the poison really wasn’t acting up at all.

He tried to touch her hair and pinch her cheeks, but the numbing pain didn’t

set in anymore.

“Ah Zu, you’re hurting me.” Ji Xiaoxi rubbed her pinched cheeks as she

complained grudgingly.

Zu An laughed off her complaint awkwardly, saying, “You have good skin.”

“Jip jip~ jip jip jip~”

The furious squeaking of the humongous rat sounded. It couldn’t

understand how those two could remain calm in its presence and even flirt

with one another. It was as if they were treating it to be invisible!

Its enraged protest brought Zu An and Ji Xiaoxi’s attention back to the

present.

“Xiaoxi, do you recognize that rat over there?”

“I’ve never seen it before, but it doesn’t seem too powerful based on the

aura it’s emanating.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

While the rat couldn’t understand what the two were saying, it could still

sense the disdain in their eyes. Knowing that it was being looked down

upon, it flew into a state of wrath. With loud squeaks, it charged toward the

two of them, ready to sink its teeth onto their flesh.

Unfortunately for it, Ji Xiaoxi and Zu An were already third rank

cultivators. As fast as the rat was moving, the two of them were still able to

dodge its charge with ease.

“It seems to be at the second rank.” Based on the rat’s speed and strength,

Zu An was able to deduce its rough cultivation rank. If that was all it had, it

wouldn’t pose much of a threat to him.

However, what he was concerned about were the thorns that shot out from

the ground earlier.

On the other hand, seeing that its charge had failed to work, the rat suddenly

stood upright, and its size suddenly expanded by half. Taking a closer look,

however, Zu An realized that it was not that its body had expanded but that

its fur was standing upright, making it look larger than normal.

“Be careful!” Ji Xiaoxi suddenly exclaimed.

Three sharp thorns suddenly shot out from the rat’s body toward Zu An.

“A long-range attack!”

Zu An exclaimed as he dodged the thorns with ease. With his current level

of speed, even without resorting to Sunflower Phantasm, he could still

easily deal with attacks from a second rank cultivator.

He noticed that there was a clump of fur behind the rat’s head that was

yellowish in color as compared to its overall beige fur. The thorns that were

just shot out seemed to have come from the clump of yellow fur.

The rat grew even more agitated upon seeing that its attack had missed, so it

arched its back and shot out a few more thorns.

Same as before, Zu An dodged the fur, but on top of that, he also whipped

out his sword to test the accuracy of his swordsmanship. With a slash of his

sword, he successfully deflected some of the thorns.

This is kind of weird though. Why isn’t this fellow attacking Ji Xiaoxi at

all? Could it be biased toward good-looking people? I don’t think I pale

anywhere in comparison to her though…

The rat continued firing several rounds of thorns, but not a single one of

them struck. It belatedly realized that it was outclassed here, so it

immediately turned tail and fled.

However, Zu An leaped forward to stop its path. “Hey, don’t go! I haven’t

had my fun yet.”

The enraged rat immediately shot out another three more thorns toward Zu

An, only for it to be dodged with ease yet again.

So, it tried to flee once more, only to be stopped yet again. Just like that, the

process repeated several times, and by the end of it, the rat was left with a

huge bald patch behind its head.

You have successfully trolled Goldenfur Monstrous Rat for +6 +6 +6 +6…

Zu An was amused. So this fellow provides Rage points too! Another

reason not to stop then.

So, he continued messing around with the rat, and it didn’t take long for it

to turn completely bald. It was only then that Zu An finally decided to end

its life.

“Ah Zu, can we let it go instead? It’s so pitiful,” pleaded Ji Xiaoxi. The

tears brimming in the rat’s eyes had evoked her sympathy.

“Alright.” Of course, Zu An wouldn’t reject such a simple request coming

from the adorable Ji Xiaoxi, so he waved his hand, gesturing for the rat to

get lost. Utterly relieved to be spared, the rat darted off into the forest right

away.

“This world doesn’t seem as dangerous as I thought.” Zu An was still

worried at first, but after the earlier easy victory he had against the rat, his

confidence was now bursting. “Isn’t the academy being far too cautious?”

Pui pui pui! What in the world am I saying? After watching so many drama

serials, I should know better than to raise flags!

Ji Xiaoxi shook her head and said, “We’re probably still in the outer

perimeter of the dungeon, where the cultivation ranks of the ferocious

beasts tend to be weaker. If we proceed deeper in, we should encounter

more troublesome enemies.”

Zu An nodded in response. He was still more worried about Shi Kun’s

assassination ploy at the moment as he didn’t know how the latter would

move.

Would he attempt the assassination himself?

That’s unlikely. Those in positions of power like him wouldn’t be willing to

sully their hands when they have underlings to do the dirty work for them.

Hm? Why did I call it ‘dirty work’?

It was then he suddenly heard a series of weird rustling noises. He quickly

turned his companion and asked, “Xiaoxi, did you hear something?”

“Ah? I didn’t hear anything.” Ji Xiaoxi was confused.

“Oh.” Zu An nodded before returning to his thoughts.

Snow did enter the dungeon this time around too. If Shi Kun is unwilling to

make a move himself, it’s likely that she would do the dirty work instead.

But after the previous fight we had, she should have already been

traumatized by the labor pains she experienced. It’s unlikely that she would

be making a move alone.

Rustle rustle~

The noises sounded again, and this time, even Ji Xiaoxi heard it too. The

two of them turned their heads around warily, only for their faces to warp in

horror. They found themselves faced with quite a few Goldenfur Monstrous

Rats.

‘Quite a few’ might be a major understatement, for there was a whole army

of little beady eyes staring at them. Such a sight was more than enough to

induce panic in just about anyone!

“How many of them is this?” Zu An gulped.

“There are definitely a few hundred of them at least. I can’t really see their

backline clearly, but their number could easily go over a thousand.” Ji

Xiaoxi also felt flustered too. It was normal for a woman to be afraid of

such stuff.

One of the Goldenfur Monstrous Rats leaped out and began squeaking to

the largest of its kind, its paws pointing toward the two of them. While Zu

An and Ji Xiaoxi had no idea what it was saying, the indignant tone in the

squeaks was more than enough to tell them that it was complaining about

something.

“Don’t you think this rat looks a little familiar?” Zu An eyed the bald patch

of skin behind the rat’s head as he asked.

“It seems to be the one we met earlier.” Ji Xiaoxi was incredibly nervous as

well.

The largest Goldenfur Monstrous Rat let out a few piercing squeaks, and

the rest immediately rose on their back feet.

Realizing that things were going awry, he immediately grabbed Ji Xiaoxi’s

arms and fled.

You must be kidding! If it’s just a couple of thorns, we might still be able to

handle it with ease. However, if it’s going to be thousands of them, that’s

like facing an arrow rain from an enemy! No matter how I dodge, I would

still be porcupined in an instant!

A split moment later, the spot where the two of them were standing on

earlier was bombarded with thorns. The Goldenfur Monstrous Rats were

furious to see that the two of them had dodged their attacks, so they

immediately gave chase with enraged squeaks. Like the march of an army,

they trampled down everything that stood in their path. From afar, it looked

almost as if a tsunami was crashing down on them.

“It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t asked you to spare it, we wouldn’t have ended

up in such a position,” said Ji Xiaoxi apologetically.

“It’s not your fault. None of us expected things to end up like that,” said Zu

An. “Let’s stop talking for now lest we run out of breath.”

The two of them ran off for quite a while, but the pursuing Goldenfur

Monstrous Rats showed no signs of letting up at all. While they were

unable to catch up, they were still biting persistently onto their tail.

“What should we do now?” asked Ji Xiaoxi nervously.

“Weren’t you fine entering the Hidden Dragon Mountain all alone? Why

would these darned rats dare to chase you?” asked Zu An curiously.

“It was too busy chatting with you that I forgot to bring out the medicine

earlier. It’d be too late to do it now since they have already seen our looks.

Just smell itself won’t be enough to deter them anymore,” replied Ji Xiaoxi.

Actually, she had methods to make these rats ignore her, but she couldn’t

allow Zu An to brave through danger all alone. That was also why she was

still running with him.

“…” Zu An.

He was frustrated, but he couldn’t bring himself to blame Ji Xiaoxi for this.

None of them expected to be faced with such a situation at the outer

perimeters of the dungeon—or to be more exact, there was probably no one

as unlucky as them to encounter this.

Ahh, maybe heading westward isn’t a good idea after all.

Noticing Ji Xiaoxi’s worried expression, he consoled, “Don’t worry, they’re

bound to give up soon!”

It was not like they had a huge grudge between them. It was not as if he had

killed their brethren; all he had done was to make one of the Goldenfur

Monstrous Rats go bald. Unless this fellow was the son of the Rat King or

something, it didn’t make any sense for them to continue chasing him.

Such a thought was swiftly dispelled from his mind by the end of the

second hour. Zu An’s heart had completely sunk by then. It was as if the

army of rats knew not of exhaustion at all; they continued chasing them

with fervor.

“Ah Zu, I… I can’t run anymore!” Ji Xiaoxi was gasped for breath.

“There’s a mountain valley ahead. We’ll have more room to maneuver

around there!” Zu An’s eyes lit up as he caught sight of a mountain valley

right ahead of him.

The problem right now was that they were running on a plain, where there

was nowhere they could hide at all. If they tried to fight the rats in a place

like this, they would just get swamped down in an instant.

However, it was different in the mountain valley. There were all sorts of

obstacles, giving them the room to hide and even launch counterattacks.

After all, the rats weren’t too powerful individually.

There was just one issue—mountains tended to look deceptively close.

Zu An was initially running with Ji Xiaoxi’s hand in his, but after a couple

times where she nearly fell down, he decided to just lift her up and carry her

in his arms. It was fortunate that she was small in size, so it hardly took any

strength to carry her.

Being held in a princess carry made Ji Xiaoxi’s face redden in

embarrassment. She had never been so close to a man before. She could

only console her again and again that big brother Zu was just trying to save

her here, and that he was different from other men…

Finally, Zu An arrived at the mountain valley.

A chilling cold gale blew his way. His body was still burning hot from all

the running he had done, but astonishingly, the gale blew all of the heat

away and made him shudder in coldness.

“What’s going on?” Zu An was confused.

However, this wasn’t a good time to be thinking about other matters. He

hurriedly scanned his surroundings for good spots where the two of them

could hide and recover a bit.

It was then that Ji Xiaoxi suddenly exclaimed with a hint of delight in her

voice, “Ah Zu, look! Those rats aren’t following us here!”

Zu An turned his head around, only to see that the Goldenfur Monstrous

Rats had stopped just a few meters short of the mountain valley. They were

pacing around the perimeter of the mountain valley in frustration, but at the

same time, they dared not to come in.

“Is there some sort of terrifying existence in the valley that instills fear in

them?” murmured Zu An worriedly.

Chapter 139: Come Here!

Zu An quickly scanned the surroundings. There wasn’t anything different

about the mountain valley he was in other than the fact that the air was

unnaturally crisp and refreshing.

“Ah Zu, what should we do next?” asked Ji Xiaoxi.

“Let’s just wait here for the time being. There’s something weird about how

the rats are reacting to the mountain valley.” Zu An couldn’t see anything

amiss about the mountain valley, but he felt that it would be better safe than

sorry.

Ji Xiaoxi nodded in agreement. She took out a water bottle from her waist

pouch and took a sip. The earlier journey had really tired her out.

After hydrating herself, she passed the water bottle over and asked, “Do

you want to have a sip too?”

Zu An shook his head and said, “Nah. I’ll probably finish up the water in

that small bottle of yours in a few gulps. You should save it for yourself

instead.”

“Don’t worry, this is actually an artifact my father had a runemaster make

for me. Despite its small appearance, it’s able to store a lot of water. It’s

plenty for the two of us.”

“A storage tool!” Zu An was impressed.

He took the bottle over and examined it, but he couldn’t spot anything

different. However, when he tried gulping it down, he realized that there

was almost no end to the supply of water it contained.

Ji Xiaoxi couldn’t help but notice that Zu An was drinking right off the rim

of the bottle, and her face reddened. She thought that he would pour it into

his mouth instead. Isn’t this an indirect…

Nevertheless, she quickly calmed herself and said, “It’s not really a storage

tool. It can only be used to store water.”

So it’s a downgraded version of a storage ring, Zu An nodded in realization.

“Are storage tools artifacts that only exist in the legends?”

“It’s exaggerating it to say that they only exist in legends, but they’re

indeed quite rare. Only top-notch runemasters are capable of forging them,

and the space in most of them is limited. Even the larger ones can only store

this amount of stuff…” Ji Xiaoxi gestured with her hand to give a rough

idea.

So, around a meter cubed big?, Zu An thought.

“Is there anything you want to eat? My father prepared quite a lot of food

for me.” As she spoke, Ji Xiaoxi took out all kinds of food from the little

pouch. There were desserts, biscuits, and even fruits.

“Woah, are you Dora*mon?!” Zu An was utterly amazed. How in the world

is such a small pouch holding so much stuff?!

“This is also another artifact my father had a runemaster forge for me. It

should be considered as a type of storage tool.” There was a faint tinge of

red constantly lingering on Ji Xiaoxi’s face as she spoke, making her look

incredibly adorable.

“…” Zu An.

It was just a moment ago you told me that storage tools are extremely rare,

but it turns out that you have two of them with you. Aren’t you trying to

show off to me right now?!

“These are osmanthus cakes bought from Xu Ji. It’s absolutely delicious.

These are peach blossom cakes, a special product from the neighboring

province. If you don’t like sweet food, I also have nuts with me too…” Ji

Xiaoxi fished out a large bunch of tidbits and began introducing them one

by one. The gleam in her eyes showed that she was excited to show off her

little stash.

Zu An was rendered speechless. “It feels like you’re here to enjoy the

scenery as a tourist than to explore the dungeon.”

Ji Xiaoxi scratched her head in embarrassment. “I wasn’t planning on

taking so much stuff with me, but my father was worried that I wouldn’t

have any food to eat while I’m in here, so he stuffed all of these into my

pouch.”

“…” Zu An.

Wow, who could tell that Ji Dengtu actually would be such a doting father?

Speaking of which, why didn’t the Chu clan prepare anything for me then?

Ahh, this disparity sure is heartbreaking. Hmmm, it doesn’t seem like Chu

Chuyan brought anything with her too though. I guess the Chu clan is

stricter with its family members; they think of it as a trial.

Zu An tried his best to make himself feel better.

There was an expectant look in Ji Xiaoxi’s eyes when she offered her

desserts to him, so Zu An felt that it wouldn’t be good to disappoint her. He

tried the osmanthus cake, and his eyes immediately lit up in delight. “It’s

fragrant!”

Meanwhile, the army of Goldenfur Monstrous Rats, who were still camping

outside the mountain valley, flew into a state of rage. What the hell? It’s

tired for us to chase you all the way here too! Do you know how parched

our throats are after running so several hours straight? How could you

picnic right in front of us?!

You have successfully trolled the Goldenfur Monstrous Rats for +6 +6 +6…

Zu An’s eyes lit up. He was receiving a small number of Rage points from

each of the rats, but one must know that there was an army of them here. It

was quite a sizeable amount in total.

Knowing that this was a good opportunity to squeeze out more Rage points

from them, he turned to look at the army of rats and beckoned them over

with a wag of his finger.

“Oh? Why are you all sitting there so pitifully? Why not come in and share

our snacks?”

Behind him, Ji Xiaoxi blinked her large eyes in confusion, She couldn’t

understand why Zu An was provoking those rats right now, but his tone was

so annoying that even someone as mild-tempered as her felt an urge to beat

him up.

As for the rats, they couldn’t understand what Zu An was doing, but his

provocative tone and gesture were more than enough to fan their anger.

You have successfully trolled the Goldenfur Monstrous Rats for +6 +6 +6…

Some of them couldn’t stand it and tried to charge over, but barely a few

steps later, they hesitantly came to a halt before retreating back down.

Looking at the huge influx of Rage points, Zu An was overjoyed. A true

keyboard warrior wouldn’t give up on an opportunity to troll, so he

continued taunting them gleefully.

You have successfully trolled the Goldenfur Monstrous Rats for +6 +6 +6…

Finally, one of the rats finally couldn’t stand it anymore and charged right

in. There was a notable bald patch at the back of its head.

With this rat leading the pack, the rest quickly succumbed to their rage and

charged in as well. While rushing forth, some of them pricked up their fur,

preparing to shoot their thorns.

“Crap. It looks like I accidentally went overboard.”

Alarmed, Zu An immediately turned tail and ran, only to realize that Ji

Xiaoxi was still doltishly sitting on the floor, munching on her snacks. He

quickly rushed out to grab and her arm and pulled her away with him.

“Ahhh! My candied fruits! I was just about to eat them!!!” Ji Xiaoxi stared

at the snacks she had left on the floor with a horrified look on her face.

“I’ll buy them for you once we’re out of the dungeon!” shouted Zu An.

“You said the same thing when you borrowed my handkerchief last time.

You still haven’t repaid me yet,” murmured Ji Xiaoxi in discontentment.

Zu An laughed sheepishly. He had really forgotten about that. “That too. I’ll

pay everything back all at once.”

After charging into the mountain valley and seeing that nothing was

happening, the Goldenfur Monstrous Rats were further emboldened. With

furious squeaks, they continued to chase Zu An tenaciously. That damned

human is too hateful! We must rip off his flesh and gobble down his bones

in order to vent our anger!

Due to the complicated terrain around the mountain valley, it was much

easier for Zu An and Ji Xiaoxi to escape this time around. However, to their

dismay, they were still unable to shake the rats off their tail. There were

simply far too many of them, and they had a sharp sense of smelling too.

No matter how well the two of them were hiding, the rats would find them

swiftly and summon their comrades to encircle them.

In the end, they were forced to a corner and decided to seek refuge on a big

tree.

Unfortunately, the Goldenfur Monstrous Rats still managed to find them in

the end. It took only a few moments for a huge crowd of rats to gather

beneath the tree.

They tried to climb up the tree trunk, but unfortunately, there were only so

many rats that could climb up the tree trunk at once. Zu An was stronger

than each of them, and he also had the advantageous high ground here. As a

result, he could basically kill one of them with each slash.

The leader of the Goldenfur Monstrous Rats stepped atop one of the

boulders and began squeaking away. Soon, they abandoned their initial plan

to climb up the tree and instead began to nibble away at the tree trunk. Once

the tree was felled, they would pounce forward and tear those two humans

to shreds.

Hearing the wood gnawing sound coming from below, Zu An started to

panic a little. “Xiaoxi, do you have any poison that can knock all of them

out?”

Medicine and poison were two sides of a coin. Considering her competence

in medicine, it was likely that she was fairly well versed in poison too.

“I do have something like that,” replied Ji Xiaoxi hesitantly.

“???’ Zu An.

He was just asking out of desperation, not really expecting much out of it,

but who could have thought that she really had something like that? If that’s

the case, why didn’t you use it earlier? We wouldn’t have to end up in such

a desperate position in the first place!

Seemingly seeing through the doubts he had in mind, Ji Xiaoxi explained

meekly, “I didn’t think that they have done anything too overboard to

justify that. Strictly speaking, we were the ones interrupting their peaceful

lives. It feels wrong to poison them to death.”

“…” Zu An.

She’s simply too kind! I really can’t imagine how in the world she managed

to survive in this dangerous world to this day with that kind heart of hers.

“What if the tree falls and we get eaten by them?” asked Zu An.

Ji Xiaoxi hesitated a little before replying, “I don’t know. They might just

retreat soon. If things really come to that point, I… I’ll poison them.”

Zu An knew that Ji Xiaoxi’s personality, and he felt that it would be going

too far to force her to do something that went against her conscience. In

truth, things weren’t that dire yet either. He could use Grandgale the

moment the tree felled to escape. At the very least, they should be able to

break out of the rats’ encirclement.

As for whether they would really be able to escape from the rats or not, he

would leave it to the calling of fate.

The two of them didn’t notice that when the corpses of the killed Goldenfur

Monstrous Rats fell on the floor, their blood seeped through the ground at

an unusually swift pace. There were no puddles of blood at all.

A while later, one of the Goldenfur Monstrous Rats was in the midst of

nibbling on the tree trunk when it suddenly cried out in misery.

Zu An quickly took a look, only to see a bone palm striking through its

back. As crimson blood flowed down the white bones, it created quite an

eerie spectacle.

This sinister event only marked the first of many soon-to-come deaths.

More and more screams of agony echoed throughout the mountain valley as

the other Goldenfur Monstrous Rats fell to the same fate, penetrated by a

white palm.

“Where did those things come from?” Zu An was appalled. He felt like he

was watching a horror movie unfolding right before his eyes.

“Big brother Zu, I’m afraid!” Ji Xiaoxi subconsciously hid behind Zu An’s

back as she gripped his sleeves tightly.

“Xiaoxi, don’t be scared. I’ll make sure to protect you well,” consoled Zu

An.

He was flustered by the unexpected happenings too, but somehow, the

presence of a woman in need tended to embolden the guts of a man. He

couldn’t allow himself to show cowardice before Xiaoxi.

He carefully examined the situation and soon figured out what was going

on.

These bone palms hadn’t appeared out of nowhere; they were rising from

the ground. They weren’t just limited to the area around the trees. Where

his eyes could see, the soil was loosening as palms rose up and strike at the

Goldenfur Monstrous Rats.

“Just how many of them are there?!” Zu An gulped.

Panic devoured the Goldenfur Monstrous Rats. Coming under such a

frightening assault, how could they still be in the mood to nibble on the tree

trunk? They fled for their life right away, but to their dismay, it was futile.

White hands rose from the soil to grab their legs.

The rats squeaked in desperation, but those bones, despite looking so brittle

that they would snap at any moment, harnessed terrifying strength that they

couldn’t break out of.

Soon, skeletons began rising from the ground. They weren’t entirely bones

yet; most of them were still half covered in flesh, and there were traces of

clothes to be seen on them. It was just that their clothes had mostly

decomposed from being buried for far too long.

It might be much more accurate to term them as ‘zombies’.

The zombies picked up the Goldenfur Monstrous Rats in their hands,

brought them up to their mouths, and began munching down on them.

Blood splattered all over the air. The mountain valley was swiftly

dominated by two sounds—the despaired cries of the Goldenfur Monstrous

Rats and the ripping of flesh.

It was as if hell had descended upon the world.

Chapter 140: Hell on the Mountain

Valley

Even the largest Goldenfur Monstrous Rat King was panicked. It rammed

the closest zombie down to the floor, forcing it to release the latter to

release the rat that it was chomping on.

Without any hesitation, the rat king bit down on the zombie’s bone with a

loud cracking sound. Before long, the zombie had already lost several of its

fingers.

The zombie tried to climb to its feet, but crushed under the weight of the rat

king, its attempts were futile.

“Jip jip jip!” The rat king squeaked furiously at the zombie, possibly trying

to brag or utter words of justice for its deceased comrades.

Its squeaks were reciprocated by a resounding thwack on its head.

Bam!

Another zombie swung a wooden bat in its hand, sending the Goldenfur

Monstrous Rat King flying for several meters before finally crashing back

down on the ground.

“Jip!”

The infuriated rat king arched its back and directed the golden fur behind its

head right at the zombie.

“Holy shit!” Zu An was alarmed. The rat king was clearly far stronger than

its companions—its thorns were a meter long, and every single one of them

was shining with a golden lustre. They looked just like javelins.

Shoosh shoosh shoosh!

The thorns shot out a speed far faster than a slow zombie could dodge. It

was struck squarely by the thorns, and the sheer impact pinned it onto a cliff

face.

“Jip jip!”

The Goldenfur Monstrous Rat King squeaked in glee. It had returned the

favor for the earlier bat to its head.

Ji Xiaoxi remarked in astonishment, “If those thorns were to strike us, we

might just lose our lives!”

Zu An nodded in agreement. He wasn’t too familiar with the power level

classification of ferocious beasts in this world, but the Goldenfur Monstrous

Rat King seemed to be around pinnacle third rank to early fourth rank.

He wasn’t confident of defeating the rat king in a direct battle without

relying on his cheat keys.

“W-what is that!” exclaimed Ji Xiaoxi. Her voice quivered as she pointed

her finger at a certain direction.

Zu An quickly looked over, only to see the zombie that had been pinned to

the cliff face had started moving. It lowered its head to glance at its chest,

causing its eyeballs to pop out a little from its face. It felt almost like a

literal expression of horror.

Then, it stretched its hand forth and began plucking the thorns out of its

body. There was no splattering of blood; there was just a mysterious dense

fluid flowing out a little.

Zu An’s lips twitched. It was fortunate that he didn’t eat too much earlier, or

else he might have just retched at this sight.

As for Ji Xiaoxi, she had already long turned her face away, not wanting to

look any longer.

The zombie plucked off all of the thorns before charging toward the

Goldenfur Monstrous Rat King once more with the bat in its hand.

“Jip~”

The fur on the rat king pricked up, but it was not out of aggression but fear.

It had already resorted to its strongest move, but its enemy remained

completely fine despite being struck by it squarely. How could it possibly

fight against an opponent like this?!

So, it turned tail and fled. It might still feel compelled as a king to protect

its own people, but it realized that the current circumstances were so dire

that it would be a blessing if it could escape with its life.

Watching the scene from above, Zu An couldn’t help but frown. The

defensive prowess had shocked him. He didn’t think that they would be

able to remain unfazed even after suffering such a heavy blow. He couldn’t

even fathom just how much it would take in order to kill one of them.

“Xiaoxi, are there any records about zombies in this dungeon?” asked Zu

An.

Ji Xiaoxi shook her head in response. “I have never heard any records of

zombies in the Ursae Dungeon before. There’s nothing on that in the

academy’s archive, and my father has never mentioned it to me before.”

Zu An felt a little unnerved. He recalled hearing that the dungeon had

opened ahead of its anticipated time, and Jiang Luofu had reminded him

that there was something amiss about the dungeon this time around too.

Is something happening right now because I’m here? Hell! Isn’t that special

treatment accorded only to novel protagonists?

While making internal retorts, Zu An’s mind was still whirring to process

the situation. “Are there light elemental spells or something in this world?

How in the world are we supposed to kill off such monsters?”

“Light elemental spells?” Ji Xiaoxi frowned. “I don’t know much about

spells, but there are cultivators who have grasped the light element before,

just that they are incredibly rare. I don’t think that there are any light

element cultivators in Brightmoon City. As for dealing with the zombies,

there are some records relating to that. It seems like they would stop

moving once you sever off their heads. Aside from that, there are rumors

that they are vulnerable to fire element cultivators.”

“Fire element?” Zu An frowned.

Will ordinary fire work against them? But again, it seems almost impossible

to light up a fire in this windy mountain valley.

He swiftly ran through all of the skills he had learned, but none of them

seemed to be useful against these zombies. Even his prided ‘Bixie

Swordplay’ didn’t seem too useful against these incredibly high defense

zombies. He could totally imagine his sword striking down on a zombie’s

neck, only to rebound off.

In the end, only a third of the Goldenfur Monstrous Rats managed to make

their escape. Most of them were picked up by a zombie and chomped down

on like a sandwich. It was unfortunate that they were land creatures, and a

huge number of zombies happened to be lurking underground.

In fact, the only reason why a third of them could escape was because there

weren’t too many zombies who awakened at the start. However, as the scent

of blood began to fill the mountain valley, more and more decrepit zombies

climbed out of the land in seek of prey.

“Do you have any medicine to erase our scent? Hurry up and scatter them

around us, or else it’ll be too late!” said Zu An anxiously.

It felt like they had just fallen deeper into danger. It was just Goldenfur

Monstrous Rats lurking beneath them earlier, but now it had been replaced

by the even stronger zombies. There was no chance for them to escape at all

even if they wanted to. Their only hope right now was for them not to be

discovered.

“I do.” Ji Xiaoxi whipped out a medicine bottle from her pouch and began

sprinkling it around them.

Zu An finally heaved a sigh of relief.

“How long will it take for them to return back to the ground?” Looking at

the zombies lurking under him, Zu An felt his heart growing heavier and

heavier.

According to the movies, zombies usually shied away from light. It was still

daytime at the moment, but natural sunlight was blocked off by the

surrounding mountains in this valley, dimming the surroundings. To make

things worse, the sun appeared to be setting at the moment.

Are these corpses going to roam for the entire night?

Zu An found himself wondering how these dungeons came to be. The

concepts of day and night applied in here, and there was a sun during

daytime too. He wondered if the moon would rise when night fell later.

Meanwhile, the zombies were happily feasting heartily on their prey. Flesh

and blood seemed to be utmost delicacies in their eyes, but the same

couldn’t be said about the humans present.

As the stench of blood grew thicker and thicker, Zu An felt his stomach

churning, but he forced it down.

Ji Xiaoxi, on the other hand, wasn’t that fortunate. In the first place, she was

afraid of such things, and she ate a lot of stuff earlier too. The heavy stench

of blood and the sight of zombies chomping off the Goldenfur Monstrous

Rats all around her were challenging the tolerance of her stomach. She

eventually succumbed and started vomiting.

I guess even the most adorable of fairies don’t vomit strawberries and

rainbows.

“Shit!” Zu An’s heart skipped a beat, for there was something worse

occurring.

The slight ruckus caused by Ji Xiaoxi’s vomiting caused the feasting

zombies to turn their gazes over. Most of them didn’t have eyeballs, but Zu

An could be certain that they were staring at them.

Some of those that failed to secure a Goldenfur Monstrous Rat for

themselves earlier began making their way toward the tree.

Zu An shuddered in fear. The tree was already unstable from the nibbling

the rats had done to it earlier, and it wouldn’t take much to fell it. Just

thinking about the pitiful plight of those rats that had fallen into the clutches

of the rats made a shiver run down his spine.

He quickly turned to Ji Xiaoxi and asked, “You should have no qualms

using your poison against zombies, right?”

“My poison only works on living beings. The undead isn’t afraid of it,”

replied Ji Xiaoxi with a pale face. “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.”

Had it not been for her earlier gluttony, she wouldn’t have drawn these

zombies over to their side.

“There’s no point talking about this now,” said Zu An. “I’ll lure them off.

Make sure that you don’t make a noise at all.”

Ji Xiaoxi was alarmed. “You can’t! We should go together!”

Zu An shook his head and said, “I have a movement skill that should allow

me to maneuver around these slow zombies. It’s likely that both of us will

die if we go together. Besides, if I lure the zombies away, you’ll be able to

bring the others over to save me too.”

“Big brother Ah Zu~” Ji Xiaoxi’s eyes reddened. She knew that she would

only add to his trouble by sticking together with him, but human’s emotions

didn’t always obey logic.

She felt that she was the one who landed Zu An in such a dangerous

position.

Noticing the dull look on Ji Xiaoxi’s face, Zu An quickly said, “You

mustn’t do anything foolish, or else my efforts will be in vain!”

“Alright… but big brother Ah Zu, you must promise me that you’ll stay

alive!” Tears were brimming in Ji Xiaoxi’s eyes as she spoke.

“Are you planning to repay me by betrothing yourself to me if I manage to

survive this ordeal?” Zu An teased as he assessed the situation below.

Ji Xiaoxi’s face reddened. “But you already have a wife…”

“Hahaha, my wife doesn’t mind me having other women. Alright, I'll be

going off!” With a smile, Zu An leaped toward an opening below that he

spotted.

The zombies were alarmed by him. Most of them turned their sights toward

him right away, but there was still a small number of them who were

looking toward the crown of the tree Ji Xiaoxi was on.

So, Zu An clapped his hands loudly and shouted to attract their attention.

“Hey, you boney freaks! I dare you to catch me! If you catch me, you can

stick your bones into me wherever you want!”

Maybe it was because the zombies understood his words or that he was

simply making too much of a commotion, all of the zombies immediately

turned in his direction and charged over.

Before such a terrifying threat, Zu An executed Sunflower Phantasm right

away to weave in between the gaps of the zombies, trying to lure them

further away from Ji Xiaoxi.

Unfortunately, there were simply far too many zombies that dodging was no

easy feat, even if he had a powerful movement skill in his arsenal. There

was once where barely after his foot touched the ground, a black shadow

smashed right down on his head. It happened to coincide with his

downtime, the split instant where he was gathering momentum once more

for the next move.

Chapter 141: Desperation

Cornered, Zu An had no choice but to raise his sword to deal with the

incoming attack. Swords weren’t built to collide directly with blunt

weapons, and the black lump of a weapon wielded by the attacking zombie

seemed to pack quite a punch. So, he chose to use the ‘flick’ form of the

Elementary Swordplay in order to redirect the attack to the side.

Despite so, he still felt a powerful rebound numbing his arm. The zombie’s

strength was on par with him, and it had the advantage in terms of weapon

too. While he had managed to hold on for the time being, things weren’t

looking good for him.

He rolled on the ground to dodge the next few follow-up attacks from that

zombie. When he turned around and saw the holes left on the ground, he

belatedly realized just what kind of weapon the zombie was wielding.

It was actually a hoe!

Now that he thought about it, most of the zombies he encountered along the

way wielded wooden bats, carrying poles, choppers, axes, and that sort of

weapons. Only a small number of them wielded swords, sabers, spears, and

the more typical type of weapons.

Why do they look like refugees?

Zu An had noticed earlier that these people wore tattered clothes, and he

thought that they had simply decomposed from having stayed underground

for too long. But right now, he couldn’t help but wonder if their clothes had

been so tattered right from the start.

The sight before him really resembled the army of refugees he had seen in

historical dramas in his previous life.

Regardless of whether they were refugees or whatever, it was still a fact that

they had turned into zombies. Not daring to let his mind wander, he placed

his focus back on the battle and used Sunflower Phantasm to dodge the

attacks coming from all around.

His initial intention was to run out of the valley. Those Goldenfur

Monstrous Rats that had made out with their life proved it to be a viable

escape route, and there were grounds to believe that the activity of these

zombies was limited to the valley.

Unfortunately for him, the rats had lured far too many zombies to the

entrance of the valley while they were escaping earlier, resulting in a huge

crowd there. He had attempted to make his way through a couple of times,

only to be forced back in the end.

Left with no choice, he could only head deeper into the valley.

He knew that given that he was only placing himself in greater danger by

heading deeper into the valley, but he had no other choice. The zombies

with hoes were all roughly as powerful as him, and those wielding sabers

and swords were even stronger.

In a one-to-one, he could still hold his ground using Sunflower Phantasm,

but he was faced with a huge army right now. Just remaining alive on this

battlefield was tough enough for him, let alone attempting a counterattack.

In fact, it was thanks to Sunflower Phantasm that he was still managing to

hold on thus far. Even if another even more powerful cultivator from the

academy had been in his place, it was likely that he would have already

been swamped down by the hordes of zombies by now.

“Whatcha staring at? Whatcha staring at? Why aren’t you staring at me?!”

Zu An’s furious curses echoed through the mountain valley. He tried to use

his ‘Whatcha Staring At’ skill to distract the zombies, but the latter simply

stared at him as if he was a fool, not reacting in the least.

It turned out that ‘Whatcha Staring At’ only worked on intelligent lifeforms

capable of speech, so these undead zombies were unfazed by it.

After running for a very long time, Zu An finally found himself cornered.

Sunflower Phantasm might be a powerful skill, but there were limits to

what he could do with it. Space was limited in this mountain valley, and the

terrain was tough to navigate. There was just so much he could do to dodge

the zombies.

With his back faced against the cliff, he found himself faced with a crowd

of zombies that had gathered in a semicircle before him. He gulped

nervously, wondering if he might just meet his end here.

Damnit! I haven’t even released my seal yet. Am I not going to be a real

man even before I die?

Zu An found himself empathizing with the eunuchs he had seen in dramas

in his previous life. No matter how dangerous it was for them, they still

insisted on taking their ‘treasure’ back so that they could be buried with it.

What the hell am I even thinking about?

While Zu An was shuddering in disgust at that thought, the zombies had

already darted impatiently at him. He immediately summoned Grandgale,

and the bird avatar manifested in front of him. With a step, he leaped onto a

tree growing off the cliff face and hugged tightly onto it.

The zombies were confused for a moment due to his sudden disappearance,

but one of the zombies swiftly spotted him, pointed in his direction, and

released a piercing screech to inform its comrades.

The other zombies raised their heads, and upon spotting him, they

immediately began climbing the cliff face. Their movements were

astonishingly agile, almost as if monkeys.

Zu An was horrified. Hold on for a moment! Aren’t these zombies

supposed to be slow? Why the hell are they so good at climbing? If this was

a game, that would definitely be a bloody bug!!

He quickly scanned his surroundings, hoping to find another place to leap

toward. With the rise in his cultivation, he was now able to summon

Grandgale twice, which meant that he could make another escape attempt.

However, the entire area was flooded with zombies, such that even if he

leaped elsewhere, it wouldn’t take long before he was cornered once more.

I probably should save it up when I’m in a really desperate situation.

In this short moment, the zombies had already reached the root of the tree

and were starting to climb onto the tree trunk to head for him.

With a cold harrumph, Zu An thrust his sword forward and knocked the

incoming zombies down to the ground. It was a desperate attempt, but it

was unexpectedly successful. It dawned on him that he was actually in an

advantageous position here.

The tree trunk hadn’t been nibbled through by the Goldenfur Monstrous

Rats, so it was still quite resilient. On top of that, this tree was hanging off

the cliff face, making it hard for the zombies to approach and knock it

down. There were only so few zombies who could approach him at once,

and he could easily knock them down.

In other words, he was currently standing on a fortress that he could guard

to the end of time!

Knowing that he could finally catch a breather, Zu An heaved a sigh of

relief.

However, he knew that he wasn’t out of danger yet. His circumstances

hadn’t really gotten much better. He wasn’t in a game, where killing the

zombies would give him experience points and equipment for him to gear

up and make a comeback. He merely found a foothold for himself for the

time being.

The zombies tried a few more charges, but Zu An was able to knock them

down by exploiting the advantageous terrain. Eventually, the zombies gave

up on climbing the cliff face altogether.

Finally having some time to rest, Zu An exhaled deeply. Are the zombies

giving up now? If so, as long as I can last till daybreak, I’d be able to

reunite with Ji Xiaoxi. I did sacrifice myself to save her this time around, so

even if she doesn’t betroth herself to me, at the very least, her affection

meter toward me should have hit the max, right?

A commotion suddenly broke out beneath him. The horde of zombies

suddenly parted to open up a path, and dozens of new zombies walked over.

“Hm? These zombies look much cleaner.” Compared to the other ugly

zombies whose flesh was decomposing and had pus flowing out, these

newly arriving zombies looked far more pleasant to his eyes.

However, the smile on his face swiftly froze up. These zombies were

retrieving a bow from their backs, nocking an arrow and aiming it toward

him.

“%^(@#” Zu An.

He felt like cursing right now. How in the world could zombies be able to

shoot arrows?

How are these refugees? They’re practically an army!

By then, the archers had already released their arrows. Over a hundred

arrows swooshed across the air, leaving Zu An so frightened that he quickly

hid behind the tree.

Pu!

Zu An’s body jolted. He inched forward a little before glancing back to look

at the arrow tips that had pierced through the tree. They were stained with

bits of crimson blood.

Holy shit!

He realized that he had gotten careless. He was in the world of cultivation

right now! Regardless of whether they were zombies or not, how could the

arrows they fired possibly be stopped by a mere tree?

It was all those dumb dramas I watched! Somehow people are able to

magically survive bullets just by hiding behind a car. They’re really

imparting the wrong image to the viewers here!

Damn it!

Does this world have the concept of ‘tetanus’ too? Those zombies have

rotting flesh and pus on them. Eek, who knows how much bacteria was on

those arrows? Shit!

Goosebumps rose on Zu An’s skin, but with another new barrage of arrows

coming up, this was no time for his thoughts to be wandering. Not daring to

use the trees to hide from the arrows anymore, he raised his sword and

prepared himself to deflect the incoming arrows.

Due to him suffering quite some injuries from the arrows that had pierced

through the tree earlier, his strength and speed were enhanced by a fair bit.

Nevertheless, he still found himself struggling to cope amidst the arrow

rain.

He could deflect those arrows that were aimed directly at him, but he

couldn’t deal with those that were aimed toward the tree. On top of that, the

arrows also carried great force behind them, jolting his arm numb. It

probably wouldn’t take long before the arrows shot the tree down, and by

then, he would be a goner.

While his mind was wandering about, he failed to stop one of the arrows,

resulting in it piercing right into his shoulder. The sheer force nearly

knocked him out of the tree, but fortunately, he managed to grab onto one

of the tree branches in the nick of time.

Am I really going to die here today?

An old but majestic horn sounded at this moment. It seemed to carry some

sort of mysterious power that left one’s blood pumping furiously.

However, Zu An could hardly raise his mood at all. Having watched so

many historical drama series, he knew that such horns were used for

military signaling in wars.

He was still uncertain at the start, but the horn verified his doubts that these

zombies were indeed an army!

It’s all over. I can’t even deal with these zombies, and they’re still bringing

reinforcement in! Hm? Wait a moment. Why aren’t they firing anymore?

Zu An looked downward, and to his surprise, he saw the zombies staring

toward the other end of the valley. These zombies were incapable of speech,

but Zu An could still sense the nervousness on their half-decomposed faces.

What’s going on?

Zu An was taken aback by the anomalous behavior of these zombies.

Nevertheless, he still made use of this opportunity to take out some

medicines to rub on his wounds.

He didn’t use ‘Faith in Brother Spring’, which he had drawn from the

keyboard. It would be a waste to use that miraculous medicine that could

heal even the most severe of injuries here. Now that he thought about it, it

was really a huge waste for him to use it on the injuries from the Wailing

Whip.

The medicines he was using now were those Ji Xiaoxi had given to him. To

be more exact, it was the medicines the male students had given to Ji

Xiaoxi, only for her to pass it to him.

“Is it possible for some of them to secretly place poison in these medicine

bottles in order to harm me?” murmured Zu An contemplatively. If they had

predicted that Ji Xiaoxi would pass their medicines to him, there was a

good chance that they would try to tamper with them.

However, he quickly dispelled those thoughts from his mind. He didn’t

think that those male students were that smart, and he trusted in Ji Xiaoxi’s

judgment too. She had taken a look at these medicines herself, and given

her astute sense for medicine, she would have been able to tell that they had

been tampered with or not.

Tok! Tok! Tok!

A series of coordinated footsteps sounded from afar, causing Zu An’s face

to darken. It made his heart thump nervously as a heavy atmosphere loomed

in the air.

Chapter 142: Luck and Risk

Zu An turned in the direction where the zombies were staring at. The depths

of the mountain valley had been cloaked in grayish mist initially, making it

impossible to make out anything at all. However, he could now make out

some silhouettes.

As the footsteps came closer, the silhouettes became clearer too.

Rows of zombies orderly marched out from the mist, only stopping around

tens of meters away. Unlike the other zombies he had been dealing with all

this while, these zombies looked far cleaner. Their bodies weren’t

decomposed, and they were dressed in armor. They had long spears and

sharp swords in their hands, and those in the frontlines even had shields on

their arms.

“Holy shit, are they elite monsters?” Zu An widened his eyes in horror.

While the earlier zombies were refugees, the ones who had just appeared

were indubitably soldiers.

Do zombies form armies too?

Zu An felt that things were getting far too ridiculous for his common sense

to process.

It was already tough enough for him to deal with those refugees, and he

actually had to fight with a bloody army now? That was definitely a one-

way ticket to hell!

While Zu An was feeling despaired, he noticed some abnormalities

occurring beneath. The zombies camping right beneath him were currently

grabbing their weapons tightly as they eyed the army before them warily.

They didn’t seem to be on the same side as one another despite being

zombies.

It was then that the formation of the army suddenly opened up, and a knight

squad slowly made its way forward. These knights were riding on zombie

horses that were shrouded in black mist, looking quite similar to the

dullahans he had seen in animations in terms of character design.

These knights were dressed in armor that was clearly a tier higher than the

footsoldiers around them.

The one standing at the forefront of this knight squad wore exquisitely-

designed armor that stood out from the rest. It donned a black cloak that

made it look as if it was embraced by darkness, and its head was completely

covered by the helmet. The only facial feature one could see on it was two

bundles of two flames glowing amidst the helmet, presumably its eyes.

Without a doubt, it was the captain of the squad.

As soon as it drew its sword, the other soldiers followed suit that drew their

weapons too.

The knight captain pulled on the reins of his steed, and the latter rose up

imposingly. That was the signal for the charge. Under his lead, the knights

under his command charged toward the enemies. The footsoldiers behind

also began charging forth while maintaining their formations.

“What’s going on? Is this Zombies VS Zombies?” Zu An was baffled. At

this point, he felt like he wouldn’t be surprised even if he saw flying pigs in

this world of cultivation.

He thought that the refugee zombies would immediately turn tail and run—

it was obvious that both sides were on different levels in terms of

equipment and strength—but to his surprise, the refugee zombies didn’t

back down from the battle. Instead, they roared furiously as they charged

forward to meet the soldiers with the shabby weapons they had in hand.

Somehow, it looked as if the commoners were rising up in arms to start a

revolution against the royal court or something.

It was then that the sky suddenly darkened. Zu An raised his head and saw a

massive rain of arrows flying forth from the army’s backline. Compared to

that, the barrage of arrows Zu An faced earlier couldn’t even be considered

as a drizzle.

Under the arrows, quite a number of the refugee zombies were immediately

pinned down to the ground, unable to rise back up anymore.

Zu An examined the arrows curiously. He had clashed with quite a few

zombies now, but despite his attempts, he hadn’t been able to cut down a

single one of them. Yet, these arrows were actually able to claim their lives?

Are their archers too strong, or is there some sort of special enchantment on

these arrows?

Soon, the zombies of both sides started clashing with one another. The

momentum of the knights’ charge was simply too powerful. The refugee

zombies, armed with shabby weapons, couldn’t possibly hope to stop them.

In the blink of an eye, the knights had already sliced a huge opening

through their formation.

The footsoldiers marched in right after and sliced down the refugee zombies

with ease.

“It’s a one-sided slaughter!” Zu An was appalled. The refugee zombies that

had cornered him earlier were actually completely helpless against the

army!

The refugee zombies were tenacious in their assaults, attempting to make

use of their numerical advantage to swarm down the enemies standing in

their path. Even when their bodies were sliced into halves, they continued

to bite down on the soldiers, not giving up until their final breath.

Unfortunately, their tenacity wasn’t enough to bridge the huge gap in their

strength and equipment.

Soon, there was no longer any living soul amidst the refugee army—oh, it

should be standing corpses instead. Their bodies had been minced into

pieces, scattered all over the battlefield.

The captain of the knight squad scanned the battlefield before finally

coming to a halt under the tree Zu An was on.

Zu An slowed his breathing so far that it almost came to a halt. He was

afraid to make the slightest noise out of fear that the knight captain would

notice him. He had nearly lost his life just dealing with those refugee

zombies; against this organized army of zombies, he stood no chance at all.

It was fortunate that the tree was pretty high up, and the knight captain

hadn’t raised its head to take a look.

On top of that, the refugee zombies had chomped down on quite a few

Goldenfur Monstrous Rats earlier, causing the stench of blood and flesh to

overwhelm the area. Otherwise, his scent as a living person would have

surely caught the attention of the zombies no matter how he tried to hide.

The knight captain was scanning the battlefield for survivors, whom he

stomped down without any mercy. After ensuring that there were no more

survivors, the captain waved his hand, and the sharp clanging sound of a

gong echoed. The soldiers swiftly got back into formation before marching

their way back to the depths of the mountain valley.

“Woah, they even have gongs to signal for retreat!” Zu An’s eyes were

nearly bulging out of his eyes. These zombies were far more professional

than he had expected.

After the soldiers were finally a far distance away, Zu An finally leaped

down from the tree. Looking at the broken limbs filling the area, his cheeks

began twitching uncontrollably. If Ji Xiaoxi was here, she would have

probably vomited everything out by now.

“It sure was a wasted trip!” Zu An gritted his teeth in frustration.

I nearly lost my life multiple times, but I didn’t gain anything at all. Even in

games, trash monsters like zombies would still drop some gold coins and

weapons!

Hm? Wait a moment. Even though there aren’t any gold coins here, there

are quite a few weapons here though.

Zu An quickly scanned the battlefield. He automatically ignored those hoes,

carrying poles, and those sort of unconventional weapons. To him, a

weapon’s value lay not in its prowess but its coolness. Only the suavest

weapon could match his noble disposition.

He recalled how a few of the zombies were wielding swords and sabers

earlier, so he started scouring around. However, his efforts ended up

disappointing him. He was actually unable to find a single proper weapon at

all. The swords and sabers the refugee weapons had been wielding had

broken from clashing against the stronger weapons of the zombie army.

If only I could find some weapons from the zombie army.

Unfortunately, the zombie army had already taken the ‘corpses’ and

weapons of their comrades while they were sweeping the battlefield earlier.

Speaking of which, since those fellows are already dead, what would

happen if they ‘die’ again?

Zu An suddenly tripped over something, causing him to stagger forward.

He quickly steadied his balance before turning around to take a look—it

was a pitch black arrow. It wasn’t the arrows which the refugee zombies

had shot at him earlier.

“It’s from the zombie army!”

Zu An thought about how the rain of arrows from the zombie army had

decimated the refugee zombies, which he hadn’t even been able to kill a

single one of thus far. Clearly, these arrows weren’t ordinary either.

The zombie army had recollected most of their arrows while sweeping the

battlefield, but they had simply shot too many of them earlier that it was

inevitable that they would miss out some.

Zu An quickly continued scavenging the battlefield, and he eventually

found seven of them.

Just by holding these arrows in his hand, he could feel an eerie, chilling

sensation gripping his heart. There was definitely something extraordinary

about them.

“I wonder how powerful these things are when used against humans.” Zu

An picked up a quiver and tossed the arrows into it. He was unskilled in

archery, but he didn’t think that it was a huge problem. With his current

strength, he could simply toss them like javelins.

After confirming that there was nothing worthy of note, Zu An quickly

headed back to where he had come from. He was worried about how Ji

Xiaoxi was faring at the moment.

He rushed back to the tree where the two of them had parted ways, but the

latter was nowhere to be seen. Alarmed, he quickly searched the area. To

his relief, he couldn’t find any of her possessions in the area, which meant

that she likely got out of the mountain valley safely.

His first thought was to rush out of the mountain valley to find her, but

thinking about how much time had passed since they parted ways, it didn't

seem likely for him to be able to catch up with her anymore. Besides, the

dungeon was going to be opened only for ten days. He needed to find the

Evanescent Lotus, so time was precious to him.

It would be a huge waste of time for him to go about looking for Ji Xiaoxi

right now. Most likely, she would return to the mountain valley to look for

him.

After a brief moment of hesitation, he decided to venture deeper into the

mountain valley.

He knew that there were great dangers lurking there, but based on the

knowledge he had acquired from reading plenty of fantasy novels in his

previous life, he knew that powerful guardians usually came hand-in-hand

with great treasures. Given how powerful the zombie army was, could they

be possibly protecting some sort of amazing artifact?

For the sake of ‘little Zu An’, he was determined to brave through danger

this once!

So, he gritted his teeth and began flitting toward the depths of the mountain

valley warily. He was prepared to summon Grandgale to flee if any danger

came his way.

To his surprise, perhaps it was due to the earlier rampage of the zombie

army, the mountain valley was oddly peaceful. There were no ferocious

beasts or zombies along the way.

The zombie army was nowhere in sight, but Zu An wasn’t worried about

losing track of them. He could feel an eerily chilling sensation lingering in

the air, the remnant of the zombie army’s aura.

As long as he traced this aura, he should be able to find their base without

worrying about getting too close to them.

He continued chasing for around an hour’s time before suddenly coming to

a halt. He could hear heavy footsteps vaguely sounding just ahead of him.

So, he slowed his footsteps and carefully proceeded forward. Soon, he

caught sight of the zombie army.

However, the current situation was a little baffling. The zombie soldiers

were marching forward orderly, disappearing amidst a hill.

Chapter 143: Chase

Zu An rubbed his eyes in confusion, wondering if he was seeing things.

However, he soon figured that there was likely to be a cavern there that was

just slightly out of his sight, thus creating the earlier illusion that they were

disappearing into the hill.

This hill was not too big, spanning just a hundred meters in height and

several hundred meters in width. However, there was something unusual

about it. Naturally formed hills tended to have ridges, making them look

rugged, but this hill actually had a smooth surface. The trees growing on it

looked oddly orderly too. It felt more like a carefully managed garden

instead.

Once the zombie army was gone, Zu An carefully made his way over to the

foot of the hill to take a look, only to realize that he was mistaken. It was

actually not a cavern but a pair of majestic stone doors. There were quite a

few bizarrely-shaped stone creatures standing by the sides of the stone

doors, which he was unable to recognize due to his lacking knowledge

about the world.

It looks like I need to find Shang Liuyu to hold some nighttime remedial

lessons for me.

He noticed that the stone doors were closed, so he tried to push it open.

However, as soon as his palm came into contact with the doors, he

immediately felt a chilling vibe racing through his arm, making him

shudder.

This place is too sinister!

He took a look around the area, and he soon had a rough understanding just

what kind of place he was at. The surroundings looked very reminiscent of

a grave, and he was starting to think that the little hill before him wasn’t

actually a hill but a massive mound.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, they used to bury members of the royal

family in mounds. It was only in the Tang Dynasty that they began building

mausoleums. As for the other dynasties, due to their lacking wealth, their

graves weren’t as impressive.

Zu An examined the area carefully, but he was unable to find a way to open

the doors. In the end, he was left with no choice but to give up.

I doubt that a treasure like the Evanescent Lotus would appear in a place as

sinister as this, Zu An consoled himself

He realized that the sun had already risen by now, so he felt that he ought to

head back now to meet up with Ji Xiaoxi. I should ask her if she knows

what kind of environment the Evanescent Lotus tends to thrive in.

On the way back, Zu An couldn’t help but wonder how the stone doors

were meant to be opened. All of a sudden, he felt goosebumps rising all of

his body as warning bells rang in his mind. He immediately executed

Sunflower Phantasm to dodge to the side.

A cold gleam of light shot out from behind a boulder right after and struck

down on him.

Thanks to his timely execution of Sunflower Phantasm in the nick of time,

Zu An barely managed to escape with his life. Nevertheless, there was still

a glaring cut on his chest that was bleeding profusely. It was caused by the

earlier strike from the enemy. Had it not been for him dodging in time, he

would have been split into two.

“Hm?” The enemy was perplexed to see his sure-kill strike falling empty.

On the other hand, Zu An assessed the enemy who nearly took his life just a

moment ago. Instead of a zombie or a ferocious beast, he was actually a

living human. The clothes he wore and the slightly familiar face he had was

telling of his identity. “You’re from the academy!”

“Ah, so it’s Teacher Zu! My apologies, I realized that there were many

zombie carcasses along the way, so I’ve been on the edge all this while. As

soon as I noticed some movements, I thought that it might be a powerful

zombie, so I made a move out of panic. I didn’t expect that it would be

you!” That student’s voice was as sincere as it could be.

Zu An sneered coldly in his heart. It was obvious that the earlier attack was

planned out, so how could you have possibly not seen me? You must be

taking me for a fool!

However, he didn’t allow his thoughts to show on his face. Instead, he put

on a smile and asked, “What’s your name?”

“I’m Shi Shangfei from the Earth class,” replied the student.

“Shit Shangfei?” Zu An burst into laughter. He slapped the student’s

shoulder and laughed, “You have an interesting name there!”

That fellow’s cultivation should be around late third rank based on his

earlier attack.

“You’re too kind.” Shi Shangfei’s body tensed up as soon as Zu An began

slapping his shoulder, afraid that the latter would try to make a move on

him. He was so nervous that he didn’t even notice that Zu An was making

fun of his name.

“Oh right, what are you doing alone here? Shouldn’t you be traveling in a

teacher’s group?” asked Zu An.

Shi Shangfei respectfully answered, “Teacher Zu, my group encountered a

pack of wolves along the way. We got separated while running away in a

fluster.”

“This dungeon seems even more dangerous than I expected,” remarked Zu

An.

“Indeed.” Shi Shangfei nodded in agreement. “Speaking of which, how did

these zombies in this mountain valley die?”

Zu An thumped his chest and said, “Needless to say, I valiantly slew them

down with my sword!”

“…” Shi Shangfei.

Would it kill you to stop bragging? If you really are that capable, I’ll

swallow my sword down right here right now! But again, if he wasn’t

shameless, he should have realized that someone of his caliber isn’t worthy

of Chu First Miss and backed down by now!

You have successfully trolled Shi Shangfei for +300 Rage!

“Teacher Zu, you came here with Ji Xiaoxi, right? Why don’t I see her

around?” Shi Shangfei had to tread carefully here. He was confident of

dealing with Zu An alone, but he couldn’t say the same if Ji Xiaoxi were to

get involved too.

“She went off to gather some wild fruits. Ah, there she is!” Zu An gestured

to the area behind Shi Shangfei with a slight jerk of his head.

Shi Shangfei subconsciously turned his head around, only to realize that

something was amiss right away. He immediately tried to retreat, but it was

already too late. A sharp pain on his neck caused him to hurriedly wrap his

hands around it, but even so, he was unable to stop his blood from flowing

out.

“W-why?!”

He couldn’t believe that a teacher would actually kill a student so easily. He

was confident in his acting skills earlier, and his explanation made sense

too. Even if the other party harbored some doubts, he shouldn’t have

resorted to a killing move right away!

Zu An sighed deeply. “You must be dreaming if you think that you can play

off as a goody two shoes after throwing me a tight slap. You could have still

held your own against me if you had chosen to fight me directly, but you

simply had to flaunt your acting skills here. Don’t you know that people

used to call me Sanlitun’s Liang Chaowei[1]?”

While Shi Shangfei had no idea who Liang Chaowei, he could tell as much

that he had been seen through right from the start. He was trying to make

Zu An put his guard down, but in the end, he was the one who put his guard

down instead. It made him feel enraged and remorseful.

You have successfully trolled Shi Shangfei for +723 Rage!

“You… Wipe that smug look off your face! I’ve already told my

companions… You will die soon!” Shi Shangfei’s face reddened as more

blood flowed out of his neck.

“Oh? I should thank you on behalf of your companions then. That’s such a

relief. I had already put my guard down, and if not for your warning, I

might have just fallen for their assassination! But now, they’re going to be

the ones to die.” Zu An chuckled mockingly.

“Y-you…” Shi Shangfei felt that he was going to pass out from anger. Is he

not going to at least let me die in peace?!

You have successfully trolled Shi Shangfei for +856 Rage!

“Stop wasting time over there! Why aren’t you dead yet? Have some self-

awareness here as an insignificant cannon fodder character! People like you

should die within a minute of screentime, or else you’re going to slow the

pace of the film! Besides, isn’t it uncomfortable for you to wrap your hands

around your neck like this? Come, let me help you.”

Zu An stepped forward and pried Shi Shangfei’s hands away from his neck,

causing blood to spurt out of the deep cut in his neck right away. In just a

few moments, Shi Shangfei had breathed his last with his eyes widened in

indignance.

Damn it!

You have successfully trolled Shi Shangfei for +1024 Rage!

Zu An proceeded to search his body, but he was only able to find some dry

rations, silver pieces[2], and ki stones. The saber which Shi Shangfei

wielded was only so-so in terms of quality, severely lacking in comparison

to the weapon the Chu clan had prepared for him.

Eek, he’s poorer than I thought.

There was no way a millionaire like Zu An would be interested in such low-

level loot.

While feeling disappointed by the lacklustre gains, he began reflecting on

the earlier situation. This was not the first encounter he had with danger; his

battles with Pei Mianman and Snow had nearly taken his life too. However,

those two were fifth rank cultivators, so it was only normal for him to be

threatened by their prowess.

Shi Shangfei, on the other hand, was only a third rank cultivator, but he,

too, nearly took his life away with that very first strike.

This made Zu An realize that he was still being too careless at the moment.

He would have to be far more attentive to his surroundings, or else he

would make an easy target for others.

Ah, Shi Shangfei mentioned earlier that he had already called his

companions over…

A sharp piercing sound suddenly echoed above as a black shadow swiftly

whizzed toward Zu An.

This time, Zu An was prepared. He took a step sideward, but he didn’t just

stop there. He quickly followed up with a roll to escape even further away.

Right after he completed that set of movements, the ground where he was

standing, along with the places where he could have evaded to, were

pierced with three arrows each.

Judging from the speed and strength of the arrows, the enemy was likely to

be stronger than the zombies he had faced earlier, but that didn’t mean that

he would be harder to deal with. After all, he was facing a whole army of

zombies earlier whereas there was only one archer right now!

As common sense dictated, in order to defeat a long-range enemy, the first

thing one had to do was to arrow the distance first.

So, as soon as Zu An dodged those arrows, he immediately rushed in the

direction where the enemy had come from. As long as he could close the

distance, he was confident that he would be able to overpower his enemy

with his ‘Bixie Swordplay’.

However, just as he was about to reach the archer, another three more

people suddenly appeared by his side. One wielded a sword, one wielded a

saber, and the last one wielded a spear. Their weapons were different from

one another, but their attacks were incredibly coordinated. Each of them

was able to accurately aim at his vitals from different directions.

So, Zu An did the wisest decision anyone could do in that situation—run.

Based on the aura emanated by these people earlier, the weakest of them

were at early fourth rank, and the spear user had already reached late fourth

rank. As powerful as his ‘Bixie Swordplay’ was, his cultivation was simply

too low at the moment. If it was one-to-one, he might still stand a decent

chance, but that wasn’t the case right now.

If he pushed himself, he probably could kill one or two of them, but he

would also end up sustaining grievous injuries, possibly getting killed even.

Please, my life is worth much more than yours! How much of a waste

would it be if I traded my life for mere small fry?

The enemies also didn’t expect Zu An to suddenly turn tail and flee either.

There was a moment of awkward silence amongst them before they

hurriedly chased him. The archer had also managed to recover by this point,

and he swiftly nocked an arrow and aimed it at the fleeing Zu An.

He released the arrow with utmost confidence that it would strike its target.

Yet, it was as if Zu An had eyes behind his back. At the very last moment,

he twisted his body sideways and dodged it impeccably.

“???” Archer.

Zu An patted his thumping heart in relief. He had been guarded against this

archer from the very start, so as soon as he heard the arrow, he immediately

began taking evasive measures. Of course, part of the credit went to the

Sunflower Phantasm’s elusive footwork, or else it would have surely taken

far more effort.

As for the other few fourth rank cultivators chasing him, they were alarmed

to find that Zu An was much faster than they had expected.

At fourth rank, a cultivator’s agility would be significantly boosted,

allowing him to cover great distances with a single leap. Theoretically

speaking, they should have been able to catch up with a mere third rank

within moments. Yet, while they hadn’t shaken off yet, they were unable to

close the distance at all!

Zu An was also feeling incredibly pressured too. He finally understood why

martial artists could easily leap ahead of their opponents and intercept them

in the movies. He was getting a firsthand experience of it at the very

moment.

Every single time the fourth rank cultivators behind him leaped, they would

be able to close the distance significantly. If not for the fact that they needed

to land on the ground and build up momentum for the next leap, they would

have already caught up with him by now.

Even though Sunflower Phantasm did increase his speed significantly, this

movement skill was focused more on the element of ‘phantasm’ instead of

‘fleeing’. Due to that, he was unable to shake them off despite having run

quite a while now.

1. Liang Chaowei is a Hong Kong renowned actor.

2. Silver taels actually have fairly high purchasing power in ancient China,

such that even a meal at an average restaurant wouldn’t even cost a silver

tael. Silver pieces are a more irregular, smaller denomination of it,

consisting of pieces of silver stones

Chapter 144: Is He Going to End

Me In a Single Strike?

Tens of li away, a teacher and a group of students were gathered around a

petite woman. Upon seeing her eyelids fluttering open, they began cheering

in delight.

“Xiaoxi, you’re finally awake!” Bai Susu patted his chest in relief, calming

down his shocked heart.

Ji Xiaoxi groggily opened her eyes as her memory slowly drifted back to

her.

She remembered how Zu An had helped her lure away the zombies. She

had wanted to help him, but there was nothing she had learned that was

useful against those zombies. So, she could only try her best to hold back

her tears while watching Zu An left with the huge group of zombies before

hurriedly rushing out of the mountain valley in seek of help.

Unfortunately for her, it was already night time then, and there were many

dangers lurking on the plain. For some reason, the dragon feces she carried

with her seemed to be not as effective as before. While most ferocious

beasts still dared not approach her, they continued prowling in the vicinity.

Upon realizing that she was only a young woman, they began trying to

probe her, wanting to see how powerful she was.

Later on, she even encountered a pack of wolves, who chased her all around

the place. Left in a desperate position, she hurriedly lit up the signaling

stick Bai Susu had given to her previously.

It was fortunate that Bai Susu and his group happened to be in the area, so

they rushed over to save her. However, her accumulated exhaustion from

having run around the place finally took its toll on her, causing her to pass

out. It was only now that she finally regained consciousness.

“Xiaoxi, how are you feeling?” Bai Susu heaved a sigh of relief inwardly. If

anything were to happen to her, Principal Jiang would really go on a

rampage.

“I… I’m fine. Quick, you need to save big brother Ah Zu!” exclaimed Ji

Xiaoxi.

At this moment, she really hated herself for her weakness. How could she

have fainted at this crucial moment?

“Zu An?” The crowd only remembered right now that she was supposed to

be with Zu An. They were too focused on her earlier that they automatically

neglected that pesky man.

“What happened to the two of you?” asked Bai Susu.

“We encountered a group of Goldenfur Monstrous Rats earlier in the day. In

order to hide from them, we stumbled onto a mysterious mountain

valley…” Ji Xiaoxi quickly recounted everything that had happened.

“What? The entire place is filled with zombies?!” Bai Susu was alarmed.

Such a situation had never happened before. While the academy had

warned the students gravely earlier, it was mainly to keep the students on

their guard, an additional safety precaution. On the whole, the Ursae

Dungeon is still relatively safe, and there were centuries of records to testify

to it.

There had never been a sighting of zombies in here before.

However, Bai Susu didn’t doubt Ji Xiaoxi’s words. Putting aside the fact

that she was known for her honest-to-fault nature, he had also started to

realize that something was amiss in here while exploring the area. The

number of ferocious beasts and the extent of their aggression were far

greater than before.

“Hurry up and save him!” Ji Xiaoxi tugged Bai Susu’s sleeves as she

pleaded with the surrounding students.

The students glanced at one another hesitantly, and eventually, one of them

stood forward and said, “If there are really as many zombies as you

mentioned, we’d just be running to our deaths too.”

“Indeed. Besides, given how much time has passed, it’s likely that he has

already…”

…

“That’s nonsense! Big brother Ah Zu is definitely fine!” Ji Xiaoxi had

always been a kind-hearted but shy individual, so she had never gotten

angry at anyone over the years. Yet, she actually lashed out at someone here

for Zu An.

Bai Susu fell deep in thought. There was some sense in what the other

students were saying too. It was not that they were afraid of death, but the

chances were indeed likely that Zu An was already…

On top of that, if they were to encounter the zombie swarm while trying to

save Zu An, there was a high chance that they would meet with casualties.

As the teacher-in-charge of this group, he had to prioritize the safety of his

students.

“If you aren’t going, I’ll go by myself!” Ji Xiaoxi rose to her feet and tried

to walk away, but she had sprained her leg while running away from the

wolves earlier. The stabbing pain in his leg caused her to lose balance and

fall back down onto the ground.

“How are you going to save him in your current state!” exclaimed Bai Susu

in frustration. “Let’s do this instead. The rest of you stay here; I’ll go take a

look by myself.”

There was some risk leaving these students alone here since they consisted

of the weaker students, but considering that they were in the outer perimeter

and that there were quite a few people in his group, they should be able to

fare fine even if ferocious beasts approached them.

It was then that a lofty voice sounded.

“I’ll go.”

The crowd turned around, only to see a graceful woman dressed in a white

robe standing by the side. Who else could it be other than Chu Chuyan?

“Young miss Chu, what are you doing here?”

“Young miss Chu, did you meet with some trouble?”

…

The crowd was surprised by her presence. Quite a few men immediately

stepped forward to talk to her.

A pity for them, Chu Chuyan didn’t even bother to shoot them a glance. She

walked straight toward Ji Xiaoxi and said, “Where’s the mountain valley

you split up with him at?”

In truth, she had been feeling quite uneasy ever since entering the dungeon.

Zu An’s sudden appearance in the Clans Tournament had foiled the plans of

many powers, so it was very likely that someone would try to exact

vengeance on him here.

With worry plaguing her mind, she eventually decided to turn around to

take a look. It happened so that she caught sight of Ji Xiaoxi’s signaling

stick, so she rushed over to take a look. She also happened to overhear her

words too.

Ji Xiaoxi was stunned by the beautiful woman before her for a moment, but

she quickly snapped out of it. She swiftly drew out the rough location of the

mountain valley on the ground for reference.

Chu Chuyan turned to Bai Susu and said, ‘Teacher Bai, you should take

care of them. I should be fine alone.”

Leaving those words behind, she swiftly flitted into the distance.

Gazing upon her gradually vanishing silhouette, Ji Xiaoxi couldn’t help but

mumble under her breath, “She’s truly ravishing close-up…”

Bai Susu heaved a sigh of relief too. It was good that Chu Chuyan arrived

in time. She could already compete with the teachers of the academy in

terms of cultivation, so there was no need to worry about her safety.

…

Meanwhile, Zu An was still desperately trying to get away. Having watched

plenty of military-related movies in his previous life, he decisively chose to

hide in one of the forests he passed by. Of course, it was not as if he really

had real experience in jungle warfare at all, but the situation was desperate

enough to warrant a try.

The four cultivators chasing him were all at the fourth rank, so he didn’t

stand a chance at all in a direct encounter. He had to find an opportunity to

split them up and strike them down one by one. There were plenty of covers

and obstacles in the forest, making it harder for them to come to each

other’s aid.

On the other hand, the four cultivators frowned upon seeing that Zu An had

fled into the forest. That being said, there was no way they would give up

just because of that, especially since they had the advantage in terms of

absolute power. Thus, they charged into the forest without much hesitation

too.

Zu An leaped around the forest nimbly, making full use of his movement

skill and the trees in the area. It was much harder for the four cultivators to

follow him now, and for once, he was starting to widen the distance

between him and his pursuers. If he continued running on, there was a good

chance that he could shake them off.

However, he knew that even if he managed to flee from them once, he

might not necessarily be able to flee from them every single time.

There seemed to be plenty of people after his life in this dungeon. If he

wanted to survive to the end, he would have to start getting rid of some

enemies.

So, he searched for a tree with a lush crown and leaped into it, making use

of the leaves to conceal his presence.

A short moment later, the four cultivators arrived in the vicinity.

“What happened? Did we lose him?”

“Don’t panic! He should be hiding in the vicinity!”

“Everyone, be careful. Make sure to check the branches above too. He

could be hiding amidst the trees!”

…

Zu An’s heart immediately sank. These people were supposed to be

students of the academy, but their actions spoke nothing of amateurs at all.

Honestly, Jiang Luofu needs to pull up her stockings. How could she not

know when there are so many spies in the academy! I really need to give

her an earful when I return!

The four of them searched the area for a while, but it was no easy feat to

find an individual when there were so many plausible hiding spots in the

forest.

“This won’t do. It’s no different from searching for a needle in a haystack.”

“Let’s split up. It’ll be much more efficient.”

“Won’t it be dangerous if we split up though? The young master said that

his fighting prowess is greater than what it seems on the surface.”

“Tsk! No matter how strong he is, he’s just a mere third rank cultivator. He

can’t possibly slay us with a single slash of his sword, right?”

“Yes, that’s right! We’re not like that useless Yuan Wendong anyway. Why

would that fool even bother talking to him at that crucial moment? He was

asking to be crippled!”

“Alright then, let’s split up and search the area. If you encounter him,

there’s no need to go all out. Just try to slow him as much as you can and

wait for us to support you.”

…

The four of them took a direction each, and they slowly scanned outward

with wary looks on their faces. The one who was heading in Zu An’s

direction was the archer.

This was good news, for he felt that the archer posed the greatest threat to

him. Having to deal with the other three melee fighters was already tough

enough, but having to keep a lookout for the ranged archer too was really

pushing the limits of his focus.

On top of that, the hardest part about running away earlier was that he had

to dodge the arrows coming from the archer too, which significantly

affected his speed. As a result, the four cultivators were able to slowly gain

on him, leaving him with no choice but to head into this forest.

If he could get rid of this archer, he would have more room to maneuver

around, be it whether to engage the other three in a fight or flee.

And this fellow was the one who said that I can’t OHKO him earlier. Hah!

Since he already raised the flag, I’m obliged to fulfill his prophecy!

However, looking at the silhouettes of the other three in the distance, Zu An

decided to give up on this tempting idea. Fourth rank cultivators were able

to cover long distances pretty quickly, and there was no guarantee that he

would be able to get the archer in a single shot. The archer was, after all, a

fourth rank cultivator as well.

If he screwed up here, he could very well get encircled and land himself

deeper in danger.

The silhouettes of the four cultivators gradually disappeared amidst the

forest, but Zu An still chose to hold his position. His decision proved to be

right, for a few moments later, all four of them suddenly ran back in unison

and scanned the surroundings, only to sigh in disappointment.

“Hmph, looks like that fellow really isn’t here.”

Zu An sneered coldly in his mind. I’ve seen plenty of such trivial tricks on

TV. If you think that you can fool me with that, you really ought to get your

brain checked out.

The spear user, seemingly the leader of the group, turned to the archer and

instructed, “Po Zhongyou, you’ll camp here in case Zu An escaped our

notice and returns back here.”

Zu An was delighted to hear that. He was still feeling dismayed at having

missed an opportunity to make a move, but who could have thought that

they would deliver their comrade right into his hands.

Though, I must really say that their group sure has queer names. There was

that Shit Shangfei earlier, and now there’s this Poo Zhongyou. What’s with

their obsession with scat?

Po Zhongyou laughed heartily in response. He raised his bow up high and

declared, “Very well! If he dares come back here, I’ll end his life with a

single arrow!”

The others nodded in response before swiftly into three directions to resume

their search. Clearly, they were afraid that Zu An would get away.

Po Zhongyou took a while to assess the area as he murmured to himself, “I

should find a vantage point to get a clearer view of the surroundings. Hmm,

that tree looks not bad.”

With a satisfied nod, he nimbly leaped onto one of the lower-lying branches

of the tree and swiftly made his way up to the top. However, there was a

surprise waiting for him there. He found himself welcomed with the sharp,

cold glint of a sword.

It was a fast, sharp, and accurate slash. To make things worse, he was still

in midair when the attack occurred, making it impossible for him to

maneuver around. He couldn’t dodge even if he wanted to.

This lightning-fast sword slit his throat, turned his shocked exclamation into

guttural groans.

“How about that? You said that I couldn’t get you in a single slash, right?

Looks like it’s time for you to review your review.”

The leaves parted, and Zu An’s gleeful face emerged from within.

Chapter 145: A Family Should

Remain Together

Po Zhongyou grabbed the sword on his neck, hoping to push it away.

However, it was futile. The damage was already done, and it had sapped

him of whatever strength he had. His hands simply slumped feebly on the

sword as he struggled to take in his final breath.

His mind had devolved into chaos. Why is this fellow here? Has he been

waiting here all this while to ambush me?

He finally understood why the young master instructed them to show

utmost caution lest they were done in by this fellow’s slyness.

But the young master didn’t tell me that this fellow would be so despicable!

Even when having successfully landed a fatal blow, he still doesn’t want to

let me rest in peace!

Looking at the look of ridicule on Zu An’s face, Po Zhongyou felt heat

rushing into his head. Blood also gushed up his throat and splattered

everywhere.

You have successfully trolled Po Zhongyou for +1024 Rage!

Po Zhongyou continued to glare at Zu An with widened eyes, but his body

had begun slumping forward. He was already dead.

“It’s over already?”

Zu An was disappointed. He was still hoping to obtain a bit more Rage

points from the other party.

He retracted his sword before laying Po Zhongyou’s corpse down on the

branch. He started off by searching the latter’s body, but there were only

some dry rations and recovery medicine. The bow he wielded seemed to be

quite decent, but it was a pity that Zu An didn’t know archery.

He took a look at the arrows Po Zhongyou had in his quiver, but they

snapped fairly easily once he exerted some force on them. It was clear that

the quality of those arrows was far beneath those he had obtained from the

zombie army. He couldn’t bother to keep inferior products with him, so he

tossed it aside too.

“Damn it, it’s yet another poor bloke!” Zu An cursed.

Why are these cultivators so poor? At least Shit Shangfei had some silver

pieces on him, but this Poo Zhongyou has nothing of value at all!

He was just about to toss Po Zhongyou’s body down when he suddenly

changed his mind. Trash can have value as well if put to good use.

So, he lifted Po Zhongyou’s body and began flitting in the direction of

where the saber user had headed off to earlier. The saber user was the

weakest one of the other three, so he should be fairly easy to deal with.

…

Meanwhile, at the northern area of the forest, Shi Zhenxiang was marching

forward warily with a saber in hand, scanning the area thoroughly.

However, he couldn’t find any traces of Zu An at all.

“Lil’ bro, I’ll definitely exact vengeance for you!” he murmured through

gritted teeth.

He was none other than the elder brother of Shi Shangfei.

The two of them were orphans, and they were each other’s pillar of support.

They went through all sorts of grueling training in their earlier years, and

they had accomplished numerous difficult missions too. They were

promised that if they could accomplish this mission from young master Shi,

they would be granted the freedom to go wherever they wanted to.

Who could have thought that things would turn out like this?

It was just yesterday that they were reminiscing on their childhood while

sitting before the setting sun, dreaming about the fruitful life they would

have ahead of them. His younger brother even said that it would best if the

two of them could marry two sisters, so they would be able to remain close

with one another.

But all of it had come to naught!

“That bastard Zu An! I’ll slice you into pieces!” Shi Zhenxiang swore.

You have successfully trolled Shi Zhenxiang for +876 Rage!

All of a sudden, he heard footsteps sounding behind him. He immediately

turned around to take a look, only to see Po Zhongyou waving to him. He

heaved a sigh of relief and said, “Didn’t our leader ask you to camp there?

Why did you suddenly come here?”

Shi Zhenxiang couldn’t help but notice that Po Zhongyou’s eyes were

glaringly wide, and he wondered if the latter’s eyes had gone bad from

practicing his archery too much.

“I saw a silhouette running in this direction, so I came over to take a look.”

Zu An stood behind Po Zhongyou, holding up the latter’s body while

speaking in a deeper, muffled voice. It wasn’t exactly identical to Po

Zhongyou’s voice, but it was sufficient to dupe someone who wasn’t paying

close attention.

“What? Zu An is here?” Shi Zhenxiang gripped his saber tightly as he

hurriedly scanned his surroundings. “Great! I’ll be able to exact vengeance

for my little brother then!”

Zu An had already known this saber user’s name from the earlier influx of

Rage point, so he was able to deduce right away that he was Shit Shangfei’s

older brother. I must say, what’s wrong with their parent’s heads? Why the

hell did they give them such names? One is called Shi Shangfei (Flying

Shit) and the other one is called Shi Zhenxiang (Shit Smells Nice)?

“Why are you heading toward my side? We should split up so as to widen

our search radius!” Shi Zhenxiang noticed that Po Zhongyou was walking

in his direction, so he immediately harrumphed in displeasure.

Hm? Wait a moment, why is his walking posture so weird? Also, that voice

earlier on…

While Shi Zhenxiang was in the midst of making sense of those

incongruencies, a black silhouette suddenly charged in his direction. He

instinctively pulled his saber upward and sliced the black silhouette into

two. It was only after the black silhouette fell to the ground did he belatedly

realize that it was Po Zhongyou. His eyes immediately widened in disbelief,

“A-ah? Why would it be you…”

What left him even more confused was that even though Po Zhongyou was

slightly weaker in close-quarter combat as an archer, the latter wasn’t so

weak as to be killed by him in a single strike.

It was at this moment of confusion that a cold glint shot straight for his

neck.

This time around, the one who was confused was Zu An instead. He was

confident that his sword would be able to plunge into Shi Zhenxiang’s neck,

but to his astonishment, he found himself unable to push his sword in, as if

there was invisible armor around the latter’s neck.

He suddenly remembered that third rank cultivators were capable of ki

emanation. They could manifest their ki around their body to form an armor

so as to guard against attacks. The higher one’s cultivation rank was, the

greater the defensive prowess and area of the ki armor.

This was also one of the decisive advantages that higher-ranked cultivators

had over lower-ranked cultivators. Sometimes, a lower-ranked cultivator

might not even be able to pierce through the ki armor of a higher-rank

cultivator in battle, making it hardly a fight at all.

But of course, the manifestation of ki armor was extremely consuming on

one’s ki, so no one would keep it on at all times. This gave lower-ranked

cultivators a chance to defeat higher-ranked cultivators.

It was for the same reason that Zu An was able to defeat the fifth rank Yuan

Wendong and kill the fourth rank Po Zhongyou. He had caught them off

guard, such that they couldn’t even activate their ki armor in time.

After Shi Zhenxiang blocked off Zu An’s assassination attempt, he

immediately launched a counterattack by bringing his upraised saber

downward.

In face of the attack, Zu An quickly back his sword to fend against the

saber, but the terrifying might coming from the saber knocked the sword out

of his hands. He was forced to hurriedly retreat a few steps to recover his

momentum.

However, Shi Zhenxiang had no intention of letting Zu An catch a breather.

He continued charging forward to pressure him. “You son of a bitch, I

nearly fell for your trap! Hah, you’re a goner now!”

They were around ten meters away, but Zu An felt as if the saber was right

in front of him. He quickly rolled sideward to dodge the attack, making him

look rather unkempt.

It was the correct decision, for the tree that was just behind him earlier was

split into two by Shi Zhenxiang’s invisible saber ki.

Zu An’s heart jolted in fright. Third rank cultivators could only manifest ki

around themselves for protection whereas fourth rank cultivators could

exert their ki further outward to launch an attack. This meant that his enemy

was, to some extent, capable of long-ranged attacks too, making him a far

greater threat than he had initially expected.

Shi Zhenxiang quickly followed up with a series of attacks, chasing Zu An

around the place as he laughed heartily, “You don’t even have your weapon

on your hand now; how do you expect to compete with me? I’ll tear your

flesh out and exact vengeance for my little brother!”

“What are you talking so much nonsense for?” sneered Zu An.

With a furious outburst of speed, he suddenly charged forward with

astonishing speed, arriving right before Shi Zhenxiang in the blink of an

eye.

Zu An’s sudden approach scared Shi Zhenxiang out of his wits. While he

was slightly distracted earlier with his words, he had been continuously

swinging his saber to pressure Zu An, and his eyes had never looked away

from Zu An at any point. Yet, the latter actually managed to bypass his

saber and arrive right in front of him without him knowing how!

Just like that, the tables were turned. The two of them were so close that Shi

Zhenxiang’s saber was behind Zu An. At least for this very instant, his

saber was rendered completely useless.

On the other hand, Zu An was holding onto a black arrow, and he was in the

midst of thrusting it toward Shi Zhenxiang’s wrist.

When Shi Zhenxiang finally caught a good glimpse at the weapon Zu An

was holding, disdain surfaced in his eyes. Arrows had to be shot from a

distance in order to gain momentum for a powerful strike. Using it as a

dagger at close-range would only greatly discount its prowess.

Not to mention, he also had his ki armor to protect him too. While he was

caught off guard by Zu An’s mysterious approach, the difference in their

cultivation rank meant that there was no way Zu An could breach his

defense.

However, barely a moment after those thoughts surfaced in his mind, he felt

an excruciating pain stabbing into his wrist. A wintry chill flowed in

through his wrist and diffused throughout his entire body, making him

shudder uncontrollably. He felt like his entire body had been encased in ice.

Following that, he felt stabbing pain coming from his hands and legs, and

before he knew it, he had already crashed down onto the ground, unable to

get up anymore.

“You severed my tendons!” Shi Zhenxiang immediately realized what was

going on, and he exclaimed in horror.

You have successfully trolled Shi Zhenxiang for +999 Rage!

Zu An looked at him apologetically. “I’m sorry, but you were simply too

strong. For my own safety, I have to be more thorough.”

“…” Shi Zhenxiang.

The hell! So the reason why you’re callously crippling me is because I’m

too powerful?

You have successfully trolled Shi Zhenxiang for +666 Rage!

However, Shi Zhenxiang soon came to terms with it. He had been raised as

a death soldier whose only worth lay in his ability to accomplish dangerous

missions, even at the expense of his life. He knew that he was already a

goner at this point, but there was just one last question that continued to

linger in his head.

“Where did that arrow in your hand come from? Why is it able to breach

my ki armor?”

“I picked it up on the floor,” replied Zu An with a smile.

He had thought that these arrows harnessed extraordinary power from the

very start. After all, these were the arrows that had killed the monstrously

resilient zombies with ease. It was for that reason that he thought of using it

to breach Shi Zhenxiang’s ki armor, and to his relief, it worked out well.

However, he noticed that the arrow in his hand had lost some of its

magnificent lustre after being used. It looked like there was a usage limit to

it.

“…” Shi Zhenxiang.

Do you take me for a three-year-old child? A weapon that you picked up off

the street was able to breach my ki armor?

You have successfully trolled Shi Zhenxiang for +250 Rage!

“Now, how should I deal with you?” Zu An squatted down and asked.

“Kill me if you want, but don’t even dream about getting anything out of

me!” Shi Zhenxiang harrumphed coldly. His only regret here was his failure

to exact vengeance for his younger brother.

“I’ll be merciful and give you a chance here. You can do whatever you

want, but as long as you can survive a strike from my dagger, I’ll let you

off. How does that sound?” Zu An began whipping out Poisonous Prick as

he spoke.

“Are you serious?” Shi Zhenxiang knew that there was definitely a loophole

here, but his innate desire to live still compelled him to take on Zu An’s

offer.

“Of course! I’ve crippled your limbs earlier, but I didn’t cripple your

cultivation. You should still be able to use your ki armor, right?” said Zu An

with a benevolent smile.

He had intentionally spared Shi Zhenxiang earlier because he wanted to use

the latter to try out the prowess of his tools.

Shi Zhenxiang glanced at the quiver Zu An was carrying as his face

darkened. “You’re just toying with me here. That arrow you used earlier

was able to penetrate through my ki armor easily. I don’t stand a chance at

all.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t be using those arrows,” said Zu An. “You should

have noticed how my arrow lost its lustre after being used. Each of them

can only be used once before being rendered ineffective, and I only have

that few of them left. Why would I waste them on you?”

Shi Zhenxiang was stunned. Those words sounded credible to him. It was

indeed not worthwhile to waste something as valuable as those arrows on a

cripple like him. “Very well, I’ll agree to your challenge. I hope that you

can hold the end of your promise.”

He channeled his ki and formed a translucent armor around his body.

Hmph, you were only to get the better of me because your arrow has the

ability to pierce through my ki armor. Don’t even think that you can do the

same with that lousy dagger of yours!

On the other hand, Zu An was in no rush to make his move. He began

asking leisurely, “Are you on good terms with your younger brother?”

“Of course!” replied Shi Zhenxiang.

It looks like this fellow had useless compassion in him. As long as I survive

this ordeal, even if I can’t recover from my injuries and exact vengeance

personally, I’ll use all of the wealth I’ve amassed to hire an assassin to kill

him!

Zu An nodded in realization. He raised Poisonous Prick up high and

plunged it downward. Before Shi Zhenxiang’s incredulous gaze, the dagger

pierced through his ki armor as if it was no more than a slab of tofu before

slightly piercing into his skin.

Zu An was intending to see how effective Poisonous Prick was on a

cultivator’s ki armor, as well as the effectiveness of its sure-death effect on

high-rank cultivators. It might have worked on his previous opponents, but

there was no guarantee that it would continue working on stronger enemies

too.

Shi Zhenxiang was shocked when his ki armor was breached, but he saw

that the dagger had barely scraped his skin, he heaved a sigh of relief. He

was just about to say something when his body suddenly shuddered. Before

he knew it, he was already plunged into endless darkness.

Right before his death, the last words he heard were, “Since the two of you

are so close to one another, why don’t you join him in hell then? A family

should stay together through tough times, no?”

You have successfully trolled Shi Zhenxiang for +1024 Rage!

Chapter 146: Unexpected Situation

While Zu An had managed to deal with two enemies thus far, he dared not

let his guard down at all.

While he was clashing blows with Shi Zhenxiang earlier, he realized that

even though he had defeated a fifth rank cultivator and killed a fourth rank

cultivator before, there was a lot of luck at play there. In a real fight,

defeating a fourth rank cultivator was definitely no easy feat.

It was fortunate that he had Poisonous Prick and the armor-piercing arrow

he had picked up earlier, or else he couldn’t even breach their ki armor. The

remaining duo was of even higher cultivation rank, so defeating them

would pose much more of an issue.

It looks like I can’t brute force my way through. I need to think up a

strategy and make it work.

Looking at Shi Zhenxiang’s corpse, an idea floated into Zu An’s mind.

…

Meanwhile, after searching the forest in vain for quite some time, the

remaining two killers realized that they might have run in the wrong

direction. So, in accordance with their previous agreement, they headed

back to where the bow user was supposed to be camping to meet up, only to

bump into one another.

The sword user asked, “Brother Jia, did you find anything on your end?”

“I couldn’t find anything. What about you, Brother Zhen?” asked the spear

user.

The sword user’s name was Zhen Liumang whereas the spear user’s name

was Jia Zhengjing. They were both death soldiers groomed by the Shi clan.

It was in the recent two years that they were dispatched to the Brightmoon

Academy, and they soon got on fairly good terms with one another.

“I couldn’t find any trails on my side. Could he have headed northward, to

where Shi Zhenxiang is?” asked Zhen Liumang. “Should we head to the

north area to take a look?”

Jia Zhengjing shook his head. “Let’s meet up with Brother Po first. If

Brother Shi hasn’t returned yet, we’ll head northward to take a look.”

“Alright then!”

With someone to cover them, their movements were less careful this time

around. They swiftly raced back to the area where they left Po Zhongyou.

“Say, if neither of us found any traces of Zu An at all, is it possible that he

has turned around and headed back to where Brother Po is?” asked Jia

Zhengjing.

Zhen Liumang replied with a laugh, “Brother Po would have long shot Zu

An to death if he spotted him. Even we would have trouble dealing with his

arrows if we can’t get close to him.”

“That’s true.” Jia Zhengjing nodded. He suddenly noticed a silhouette in

front and remarked, “Ah, Brother Shi is… back…”

His words carried a hint of doubt as he realized that Shi Zhenxiang was

standing a little too high above ground. They quickly rushed over, only for

their faces to pale in shock. They realized that Shi Zhenxiang was hanging

off a tree with a noose around his neck.

“Brother Shi!” exclaimed Zhen Liumang in horror.

They had been together with one another in Brightmoon Academy some

several years now, resulting in them forging a bond of camaraderie. He was

horrified to see the other party hanging off the tree. Without any hesitation,

he rushed forward to sever the rope so as to put Shi Zhenxiang’s body

down.

“Be careful!” warned Jia Zhengjing.

However, it was already too late. The moment the rope was severed, a black

shadow suddenly darted across the air.

Stuck in midair, Zhen Liumang was unable to dodge the arrow at all.

Fortunately, he wasn’t completely unguarded. He swiftly swung his sword

to deflect the arrow, but before he could even heave a sigh of relief,

something on Shi Zhenxiang’s body suddenly exploded.

With a scream of horror, he quickly tossed the body away. It was fortunate

that he had activated his ki armor to protect himself earlier, so even though

the explosion had dealt significant injuries to him, it wasn’t fatal.

The shockwave of the explosion pushed him toward the ground. He was

just about to curse at the evil bastard who lay out this series of despicable

traps when the ground beneath him suddenly caved in, and he fell into a pit.

Ahhhh!

A scream of horror sounded. There appeared to be some kind of mechanism

inside the pit to deal with its unsuspecting victim.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye, catching everyone off guard.

Jia Zhengjing was horrified too, but he held back his urge to check on his

comrade. Instead, he scanned his surroundings carefully.

All of a sudden, a silhouette darted toward him from the side with a black

dagger in hand.

“Over there, huh!” Jia Zhengjing’s spear rushed forth like a silver dragon

rising from the sea. In terms of force and speed, his spear thrust was

indubitably far stronger than the dagger brandished by the silhouette.

However, he soon sensed that something was amiss and leaped backward.

When he finally glanced downward to take a look, he realized that his

armor had been slit open, revealing his inner shirt.

Had the enemy moved even a single inch closer, the dagger would have

pierced through his skin and skewered his abdomen.

“Where did the dagger in his hand come from?” Jia Zhengjing was shocked.

He had been maintaining his ki armor all this while, so ordinary attacks

shouldn’t have possibly hurt him at all. Yet, that earlier strike actually

managed to penetrate both his ki armor and the soft armor he had bought at

a high price. This was inconceivable to him!

On the other hand, Zu An lamented over his failure. The earlier strike was a

good one, but the short strike range of Poisonous Prick and the sharp

reflexes of his enemy worked against him. Otherwise, he could have

bragged about having killed a pinnacle fourth rank cultivator in a single

strike.

Thinking about this, he suddenly found himself filled with awe for

Dongfang Bubai. While he was lamenting about the shortness of his dagger,

the latter was already dominating the world with just a couple of needles in

hand.

The battle didn’t stop right after this clash. Jia Zhengjing was, after all, no

ordinary student. He had been groomed as a death soldier from a young age,

and he had learned many new things in Brightmoon Academy too. He

swiftly recovered from his astonishment and charged forth with a furious

roar, thrusting the spear in his hand toward Zu An.

With the earlier precedence, his movement was more controlled and careful

this time around, but its force was still not to be underestimated. The spear

seemed almost to be ripping vacuums in the path of its movement.

Zu An dodged sideward before attempting to make another frontal charge,

but he suddenly felt a strong gale coming from his side. He quickly

retracted his dagger and pulled it to his side, blocking off the sudden spear

sweep.

Despite having successfully blocked the attack, the sheer force from the

spear sweep forced Zu An to use Sunflower Phantasm to retreat a few steps

before he was able to neutralize the impact.

On the other hand, a cold sneer formed on Jia Zhengjing’s face. He had

been learning spearmanship from a very young age, so how could he

possibly allow anyone to get close to him so easily? In fact, the attack he

had made earlier harnessed the full force he had as a pinnacle fourth rank

cultivator, and it should have been more than enough to crush the enemy.

However, the smile on his face soon froze. There wasn’t as much feedback

from the blow as he had expected, as if he had struck a bed of cotton.

“Your movement skill…” mumbled Jia Zhengjing. He could tell that the

other party had used his bizarre movement skill to neutralize the force of his

attack.

He had also heard about how Zu An’s bizarre movement skill had won the

limelight at the Clans Tournament, but the intelligence team had also

figured out that while the movement skill looked impressive at first sight, it

was riddled with openings.

But that was clearly not the case, be it when the other party attacked him or

evaded his attack.

On the other hand, after neutralizing the sweep with some difficulty, Zu An

charged toward the spear user once more. He heard a groan coming from

the trap, which meant that the sword user wasn’t dead yet. He had to

quickly eliminate the spear user so as to avoid it turning into a two-on-one

situation.

However, all of his offensive attempts were parried by the spear with loud

clangs. This was the difference arising from their cultivation rank and

combat experience. It wouldn’t be easy for Zu An to catch the spear user off

guard.

Zu An’s face turned grim. He dished out blows at an increasingly faster

speed, and paired with Sunflower Phantasm, he really looked like a specter

haunting the battlefield.

Sweat began trickling down Jia Zhengjing’s face. He finally understood

how a fifth rank cultivator like Yuan Wendong ended up getting crippled by

Zu An. The world mocked Yuan Wendong for foolishly underestimating his

opponent, but that was only because they had yet to have a taste of his

swordsmanship themselves.

It was indeed the Thirteen Forms of Elementary Swordplay from

Brightmoon Academy, but it was somehow elevated to another level in Zu

An’s hands. His attacks looked straightforward, but when paired with the

movement skill, they became nearly impossible to predict.

Jia Zhengjing had managed to hold on thus far, but he definitely wasn’t as

relaxed as he appeared to be. The cold sweat drenching his body was the

best evidence of it.

He was still attempting to launch attacks initially, but after trading several

blows, he was forced to take on a defensive position. It was only at times

after Zu An failed an assault that he was able to sneak in an attack, but then

Zu An would swiftly retaliate with a counterattack, nearly doing him on

several occasions. In the end, he was forced to go into full defensive.

He desperately swung his spear to form an impregnable defensive shell

around him, reminiscent of a barrier.

It was incredibly frustrating for him. He should have been at an

advantageous position here, but he could only resort to holing himself up

like a tortoise here.

On the other hand, Zu An’s hands were starting to feel numb from having

clashed with the spear user too many times. There were several occasions

where his dagger was nearly jolted flying when they crossed blows, but

having learned a lesson from his previous encounter with Shi Zhenxiang, he

made sure to hold it tighter than ever.

After several blows, Zu An didn’t dare to go too aggressive anymore. He

chose to skirt around the spear user instead to wait for an opportunity to

strike.

He knew that the initiative was in his hand right now. The spear user was

swinging his spear to create a defense shell around his body at the moment,

but it was obvious that he couldn’t keep this up for too long. He was

depleting his ki at a terrifying rate, and it was only a matter of time before

his reserve emptied out.

The spear user would eventually have to thrust his spear outward to launch

an attack, and that would create space for Zu An to enter and end the fight.

A short moment passed, and Zu An noticed that the defense shell had gotten

smaller from before. It would appear that the spear user had noticed this

problem too and was attempting to conserve his energy. A smile crept on Zu

An’s lips. There was no way he would allow the spear user to catch a

breather, so he headed inward once more to pressurize the other party.

At this very moment, Jia Zhengjing was feeling so stifled that his lungs

were going to blow up. He had never felt so aggrieved in a fight before. He

obviously had the advantage in terms of speed and strength, but the sheer

elusiveness of the other party’s movement skill was more than enough to

undo whatever advantage he had.

He was still infuriated at the start, but soon, his heart turned cold upon

realizing the terrible situation he was in. He would indubitably succumb to

the other party at this rate and lose his life. He had to make a counterattack.

But the problem was that launching a counterattack would force him to

expose his openings, and he might die even faster as a result of that. That

pitch-black dagger Zu An was holding in his hands gave him dangerous

vibes. Every time it came close to him, goosebumps would rise on his body.

However, a twist in the situation suddenly occurred then.

A silhouette leaped out from the pit and grabbed onto Zu An before

shouting, “Brother Jia, kill him!”

It was Zhen Liumang! There was still an arrowhead stuck in his leg, and his

body was filled with terrible wounds, but he was still alive!

Zu An realized that he had gotten careless. He could still hear groans from

the pit at the start, but as the voice grew deeper and quieter, he thought that

the other party had succumbed to his injuries and died. Yet, who could have

thought that he was simply biding his time for an opportunity to strike?

This wily fox!

Zu An tried to break free of Zhen Liumang’s grip, but the latter was at mid

fourth rank, an entire rank stronger than him. The sheer difference in their

strength made it impossible for Zu An to break free.

“Die!” sneered Zhen Liumang.

In his view, the greatest threat Zu An posed was just his movement skill.

So, he began channeling his ki to enhance his strength, intending to crush

Zu An’s bones.

He might have sustained great injuries here, but it would be all worth it if

he could kill this fellow. The young master had declared that he would

handsomely rewarded the person who managed to kill Zu An.

However, Zhen Liumang’s body suddenly froze up at this critical moment

as he found his own strength seeping out of his body. The last sight he saw

before everything went dark was Zu An nicking his arm with his dagger,

then a bunch of profound, black runes began seeping in through his

wounds.

“What dagger is that… How could it be this formidable…”

With those parting words, Zhen Liumang’s breathed his last.

Meanwhile, Zu An was feeling incredibly stressed out even though he had

managed to kill one of his enemies. The problem right now was that the

sword user’s hands were still fixed to his body. He would need a moment’s

time to fully shake off the burden hanging on him, but it was clear that the

spear user wouldn’t give him the chance to do so.

No matter how powerful Zu An’s movement skill might be, its prowess was

bound to be discounted with a burden hanging off him.

Jia Zhengjing’s spear shot toward him with the grim reaper’s scythe. Now

that Zu An had lost the advantage of his movement skill, he was no more

than a moving target now.

Chapter 147: Magical Flashlight

Faced with this undodgeable spear thrust, Zu An suddenly shouted out,

“Whatcha looking at!”

At the same time, he tossed his dagger straight toward Jia Zhengjing.

“I’m looking at you, shithead!”

Jia Zhengjing was stunned. He finally understood why Yuan Wendong

would actually respond to Zu An’s remark at that critical moment during

the Clans Tournament. It turned out that Zu An’s taunting ability had

already risen to the level where it could be considered as a true weapon!

But it was all too late. Watching as the dagger sink into his chest, Jia

Zhengjing closed his eyes indignantly.

Goddamnit, how did things turn out like this!

You have successfully trolled Jia Zhengjing for +1024 Rage!

Meanwhile, Zu An wasn’t faring much better himself either. While Jia

Zhengjing’s momentary lapse in attention allowed Zu An to adjust himself

to dodge the fatal blow, he was still left with a deep puncture in his chest.

With laborious movements, he pried open Zhen Liumang’s hands and shook

off his body before staggering over to Jia Zhengjing’s fallen corpse to

retrieve Poisonous Prick. He made sure to confirm that the two of them

were indeed dead before heaving a sigh of relief.

It was not his first life-and-death battle, but this was the first time it had

been so gruesome.

Ah, just what sins have I committed to suffer such a fate? How great it

would have been if I was still in my air-conditioned room, enjoying a cool

cup of cola while playing my games? Why the hell did I have to

transmigrate into this horrible world and fight desperately for my life?

Zu An lay on the ground, panting heavily. It took him a while before

strength finally returned to his body. With a deep sigh, he began applying

some recovery medicine on his wounds to stop the bleeding.

It was fortunate that cultivators in this world had incredibly resilient bodies.

Had it been in his previous life, that deep puncture in his chest would have

probably taken his life even before he could be transported to the hospital.

Zu An bandaged his wounds messily before beginning to sweep the

battlefield. Just as he had expected, there weren’t much money or any ki

stones on the remaining two assassins too.

It was also then it dawned on him that it was meaningless to death soldiers

like them to build up wealth. They were forced to take on dangerous

missions where they could very well lose their lives, so it was meaningless

for them to accumulate material possessions. So, they opted to trade

whatever they had to raise their fighting prowess instead. At the very least,

that would increase their chances of survival.

In the end, to Zu An’s dismay, he only found some dry rations and recovery

medicine. He had spent so much effort and resources on the traps he had

constructed—he wasted his precious armor-piercing arrows and hidden

weapons Ji Xiaoxi had given him—but he got hardly anything in return.

Heck, he didn’t even earn much Rage points either!

Just thinking about it made Zu An greatly aggrieved. He ran over to Jia

Zhengjing’s side to strip off his soft armor. There were a cut and a hole in it,

both caused by Zu An in the earlier battle, but the other parts were still

working fine. It was still barely usable.

Considering how a pinnacle fourth rank cultivator was using it as a

defensive tool, it should be of fairly decent quality. Just to be safe, Zu An

grabbed another sword and tried hacking at the soft armor, and to his relief,

it couldn’t pierce through it at all.

His first thought was to wear the armor backward since the cut and puncture

was only at the front of the armor. This way, he would get full protection for

the front of his body.

However, on second thought, he felt that if it ever came to a point where he

would need this soft armor, it was highly likely that he would already be

running away. In such a case, it would be more important for him to protect

his back instead. So, he flipped the armor around and wore it the proper

way.

Following that, he leaped into the pit and recollected the armor-piercing

arrows that hadn’t lost their lustre yet. All in all, there were four of them

which were still usable.

Other than that, he also noticed a miniature hand crossbow in the pit which

appeared to belong to Zhen Liumang. It probably dropped from his arm

while he was falling into the pit.

Zu An attached the hand crossbow onto his wrist as his feelings of

aggravation finally soothed a little. At least he managed to loot two usable

pieces of equipment after that difficult fight, so it was not all that bad.

After taking whatever he could, Zu An headed over to a quiet location to

take a look at the Rage points he had amassed thus far. He was initially

planning to save up his Rage points so that he could use them up all at once.

Perhaps, he might just get something good that way. However, after the

near-death experience he just had, he finally came to understand the danger

he was in, and he dared not to remain complacent anymore.

Just like the death soldiers, he ought to convert all available resources he

had into tangible strength so as to increase his chances of walking out of

this dungeon alive.

To his astonishment, he actually managed to amass a hulking 75,873 Rage

points!

There was no place to wash his hands and face right now, so he chose to rub

on the bloodstains on his body instead, consoling himself that red is the

color of auspiciousness.

He began drawing the lottery. The light marker quickly shot across the

keyboard before eventually stopping at the letter ‘D’.

Ding!

Congratulations, you have won a ‘Magical Flashlight’!

Zu An’s eyes slowly widened in disbelief. He never thought that he would

actually manage to draw an artifact right away. Is Lady Luck finally shining

on me now?

He quickly took a look at the description of the item.

Magical Flashlight: The greatest work of a bald scientist in another world.

Artifact Effect: It’s able to light up in the presence of light without requiring

any energy sources at all. Of course, this also meant that this flashlight

would never light up in the absence of light. It’s rumored that this flashlight

harnesses an incredible effect, but no one has been able to figure out its use

for the past thousand years. Could you possibly be the exception? Uses: 3

“…” Zu An.

His mind was completely blown after reading the description. For a

flashlight to light up in the presence of light instead of the absence of it…

What is bloody wrong with that scientist’s mind?

He was really wondering if that bald scientist was named Haw Kar-ying![1]

And what shocked him more was that there was actually a use limit on this

lousy piece of shit! Even if there was unlimited use for this, he wouldn’t be

able to find a place to put it to use at all!

What was even worse was that the description hinted at an incredible effect,

but it refused to elaborate on what it was. What the hell? You might as well

not say anything at all!

Zu An tried thinking deeper into it, but he couldn’t figure a use for this

flashlight at all. So, he decided to just continue on with the lottery.

Perhaps it was because he used too much of his luck on drawing the first

artifact, but the next 18 draws gave him a ‘Thanks for playing’!

Zu An’s eyelids twitched, wondering if he had used up his luck. When he

finally pulled a ki Fruit on his nineteenth pull, he heaved a sigh of relief.

All he got were ‘Thanks for playing’ and Ki Fruits afterward, to the point

that he was getting numb. It was like an endless repetitive cycle.

But all of a sudden, the light marker stopped on the letter ‘Y’. Zu An froze

for a moment, wondering if he was seeing things. When was the last time I

managed to draw two items simultaneously?

He was too used to having horrible luck that this sudden outburst of fortune

caught him off guard. He hurriedly checked on the details.

Congratulations on drawing ‘Befriend a Rich Man’!

Befriend a Rich Man: When you reach a certain level of wealth,

appearance, age, personality, and all of those superficial traits will be

rendered meaningless. Everyone will think of you as an amicable man

overflowing with charisma.

Artifact Effect: Every time you spend 100,000,000 coins, you’ll be able to

make a target view you as a friend. The effect lasts for an hour.

1. This is a character from ‘From Beijing With Love’, a 1994 Hong Kong

spoof of James Bond. There was a scientist in the film (named Da Vinci but

transliterated to Cantonese) who created a solar-powered flashlight, which

lights up in the presence of light.

Chapter 148: Moon's Reflection

Zu An suddenly thought of his previous life’s Jack Ma, the creator of

Alibaba, as well as Uncle Wang, who charismatically lectured the crowd

that they ought to start with a small financial target, for say, a hundred

million RMB.[1]

Hmmm, I could do that too, right? If I go in public and start talking about

how easy it is to get a pretty wife or something, I should be able to collect a

massive outburst of Rage points.

Yeap, this idea is not bad. I ought to give it a try too.

He examined the ‘Befriend a Rich Man’ skill and found that even though it

had no usage limit, there was actually a huge restriction to it—money.

However, he noticed that the artifact effect was described rather

ambiguously. The 100,000,000 coins seemed to be referring to copper

coins, which meant that it was 100,000 silver taels each use. Hmm, that

doesn’t sound too much.

Currently, he had 650,000 silver taels on him at the moment, and the Four

Seas Casino still owed him another 500,000 silver taels. In total, he would

be able to use the ability six times.

Had anyone else known what he was thinking, they would have surely burst

out cursing. 100,000 silver taels was definitely a huge sum. One must know

that even wealthy merchant clans in this world would have difficulty

forking out 100,000 silver taels at one go.

Right now, Zu An was considering another problem, and that was the effect

of the skill after spending the money. The details in the artifact effect were

lacking, only mentioning that he could turn a target into his friend for an

hour. However, there were many different kinds of friends too, such as

friends who had been through hardship and friends who scurried off in the

face of trouble. He wasn’t certain how effective the skill would be.

For example, if I try this skill on Jiang Luofu, could the two of us become

friends with a lot of benefits?

Zu An was a little tempted, but he suddenly recalled the sealed state he was

in and fell gloomy.

My priority right now should be to find the Evanescent Lotus. Let me put

all miscellaneous thoughts away for now.

He continued to draw the lottery, but he didn’t get anything else that was

worthy of note. His final loot was 70 Ki Fruits. With that, he had used a

total of 156 Ki Fruits on his fourth formation, which meant that he just

needed 77 more to fill it up entirely.

While it looked like the speed of his cultivation was incredibly slow at the

moment, it was already much faster than the other cultivators in this world.

Others had to spend at least decades of hard work in order to reach his

current cultivation rank whereas it only took him a month or so.

Besides, his cultivation would rise significantly every time he suffered a

beating due to the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra, which meant that it was only a

matter of time before he caught up with the others.

If others were to learn of his secret, they would surely go green with envy

and chase him down for his cultivation secret.

Zu An had noticed this too, but he viewed it as a path he had to tread down.

After all, he was aiming to become the strongest man in the world!

He had read far too many webnovels in his previous life, and his head had

been poisoned by all sorts of overpowered protagonists. He compared

himself with those protagonists—as if he was on the same level as them—

and he felt that his current accomplishments were still lacking in

comparison.

Well, a top-notch prodigy like me should aim for the stars, right?

After some rest, Zu An felt that he was faring much better now, so he

headed out of the forest to resume looking for Ji Xiaoxi. His mood was

pretty good from having obtained two artifacts from the lottery.

However, the moment he walked out of the forest, the smile on his face

froze up. Goosebumps rose all over his body, and his heart began thumping

out of nervousness.

There was a woman dressed in a green dress before him. She had a graceful

slender figure and an alluringly willowy waist. A slight breeze swept across

the land, fluttering her skirt. Her face was hidden behind a veil, shrouding

her in an air of mystery.

Any other men would be delighted to stumble upon such a beautiful woman

in the wilderness, but Zu An was in no mood to appreciate her beauty. He

had a firsthand experience of the terrifying power harnessed within her

slender profile.

This woman was no other than Snow!

The latter had already noticed him too, and her lips curled up in glee. Found

him!

Zu An’s eyes flickered around nervously for a moment before he finally

managed to calm his nerves. Instead of turning tail and fleeing, he walked

over with a smile and said, “Oh? Miss Qiao, I never expected to meet you

here.”

Snow was surprised. Given the grudge between them, she thought that the

two of them would break out into a fight right away upon meeting one

another, but the other party was approaching her amicably instead.

It took a moment before she realized that she was currently Qiao Xueying

of Brightmoon Academy, not Snow. It was only natural that he didn’t

recognize her.

Hmph! It must be because I’m in the tenth place in the Sweetheart Ranking

that he’s trying to chat me up! This fellow sure is… Despite being impotent,

he’s still so lecherous!

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +233 Rage!

Zu An’s heart skipped a beat. Woah, she must really hate me a lot. She’s

raging at me when all I’ve done here is to greet her?

Watching as Zu An approached her like an ignorant fool, Qiao Xueying’s

lips curled up in ridicule. All of a sudden, she didn’t want to kill him that

quickly anymore. That fellow made me suffer so much the last time,

making me… me… that! How can I vent my anger if I don’t toy with him a

bit?

“Miss Qiao, you seem to be in a really good mood. Is it because of me?” Zu

An sighed deeply. “I guess it can’t be helped. With my dashing appearance,

it’s hard for any woman not to be in a good mood upon meeting me.”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

Still as thick-skinned as ever, I see.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +131 Rage!

However, she maintained the smile on her lips and said, “Young master Zu,

aren’t you afraid that your wife will be displeased?”

Hmph, I shall twirl you around my fingers like an utter fool. I’ll first make

you fall for me before exposing my true identity to you. Heh, let’s see how

you’ll react to that!

Zu An waved his hands and said, “Miss Qiao, please do not worry. My wife

has said that she doesn’t mind me looking for another woman. If you don’t

believe me, you can feel free to ask her.”

Qiao Xueying clicked her tongue in annoyance. How dare this fellow mess

around with other women behind the young miss’ back?

However, barely as this thought surfaced in her mind, she realized that she

was still addressing Chu Chuyan as young miss and feeling indignant on

her behalf. It looked like the years she spent by Chu Chuyan’s side had

really left a deep impression on her.

“Miss Qiao, what are you doing alone? It’s not safe for you to walk around

alone. This dungeon seems to be far more dangerous than stated in the

records,” said Zu An. “However, now that you’ve met me, there’s no need

to worry anymore. I’ll protect you from now onward.”

“You?” Qiao Xueying couldn’t help but sneer mockingly. However, she

quickly changed her tone and replied, “You have my deepest gratitude,

young master Zu.”

“Wait a moment, what’s with that ‘you’? Do you not believe me?” Zu An

immediately got agitated. “Have you heard of Yuan Wendong? He’s a fifth

rank cultivator—a fifth rank cultivator, I joke you not—and I defeated him!

There’s also…”

Qiao Xueying couldn’t be bothered to listen to his nonsense. She

interrupted him and asked, “Did you meet any other students along the

way?”

“Students? I don’t think so. You’re the first one I encountered. Ah, it must

be fate bringing us together!” Zu An chuckled.

“You didn’t meet anyone?” Qiao Xueying eyed the wound on Zu An’s

chest. “What’s with that injury then?”

“Ah, I stumbled into a few zombie soldiers and fought against them. Ahhh,

it was really a tough fight. There’s really something weird about this

dungeon! I didn’t think that there would actually be zombies here… The

academy should have told us something in advance!” Zu An spoke with a

hint of fright in his voice. His acting was as genuine as one could imagine.

Qiao Xueying pondered over Zu An’s words. She recalled what she had

seen in the mountain valley she passed by earlier, and a furrow formed on

her forehead. Did Jia Zhengjing and the others encounter the zombies and

get killed off by them?

“Hm? Honey, what are you doing here?” Zu An suddenly glanced behind

Qiao Xueying and exclaimed in delight.

“Young miss!” Qiao Xueying’s body shuddered as she subconsciously

turned around to take a look, only to see no one behind her.

Zu An was waiting for this opportunity all this while. He intentionally

dragged the conversation around the place in order to make Qiao Xueying

lower her guard so as to create this opportunity.

Without any hesitation, he drove his dagger straight toward Qiao Xueying’s

heart. He didn’t show any mercy this time around, resorting to Poisonous

Prick for this attack. While it was a pity to let a beauty die just like this, he

was well aware that she had entered the dungeon to take his life. With her

fifth rank cultivation, any compassion he showed would likely spell in his

death.

‘Bixie Swordplay’ was fast enough as it was, and Zu An had taken her by

surprise this time around. Even a cultivator of Qiao Xueying’s level

couldn’t hope to dodge it.

Psh!

Blood splattered all over the place.

Zu An had managed to pierce his dagger into Qiao Xueying’s body!

However, he didn’t look relieved at all. There was something weird about

the feedback coming from the dagger.

As he had expected, ripples suddenly appeared on the ‘Qiao Xueying’

which he had pierced, and she eventually morphed into a flower that

dissipated into thin air. Meanwhile, the real Qiao Xueying was standing

several meters away, glaring at him chillingly.

From the moment she turned around and saw no one at all, she knew that

she had made a fatal mistake. Her initial thought was to use her ki armor to

guard against his incoming attack, but every cell in her body was tingling,

warning her of a terrifying danger that was encroaching on her.

She couldn’t understand why Zu An could make her feel such a great threat,

but she instinctively resorted to a talent that she could only use three times

in her life, Moon’s Reflection, and transferred the damage she suffered onto

a flower.

“You actually made me waste a use of my Moon’s Reflection!” bellowed

Qiao Xueying.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +1024 Rage!

One must know that every use of Moon’s Reflection was equivalent to an

additional life! She had been in danger many times since a young age, but

she could never bring herself to use Moon’s Reflection. She knew that this

technique could save her three times from a powerful opponent whom she

stood no chance before, which was why she treasured it greatly.

Yet, she actually wasted it on a man whom she thought of nothing more

than a mere ant!

Despite her furious bellow, there was no one to answer her. Zu An had

already turned around to flee back into the forest, and he was just a moment

away from vanishing from Qiao Xueying’s side.

1. Wang Jianlin was an internet meme for a while for saying that ordinary

people should start with a small financial goal of 100 million RMB first,

which is equivalent to around 15 million USD.

Chapter 149: Addicted to Labor

Qiao Xueying finally understood that Zu An had recognized her right from

the start, and he was just putting on an act to make her lower her guard so

as to kill her.

She planned to make a fool out of Zu An, only to realize in the end that she

was the fool all along. The explosion of embarrassment and fury in her head

nearly drove her insane that very instant.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +1024 Rage!

She immediately gave chase right away, determined to mince that darned

bastard into pieces so as to vent her anger.

Zu An ran off as fast as he could, but he realized that even while using

Sunflower Phantasm, he was still unable to outrun Qiao Xueying. If not for

the complicated terrain in the forest, he would have been caught by now.

After running a while, Zu An made use of an opportunity where he was in

her blind spot to climb up a tree and conceal his aura, hoping that she

wouldn’t find him.

Qiao Xueying chased over, only to realize that Zu An’s figure had vanished.

Her footsteps gradually slowed to a leisurely stroll, and she remarked

calmly, “Zu An, I’ll admit that your strength has caught me off guard. But if

there’s one thing you should have never done, it’s to run into this forest.”

Zu An was stunned. It was through exploiting the terrain of the forest that

he managed to get rid of Jia Zhengjing and the others, which was why he

instinctively tried to emulate his previous success.

“Have you forgotten my awakened element?”

Qiao Xueying casually raised her hand, and the leaves on the ground

suddenly began moving on their own accord. Their soft surface hardened

into sharp knives, and they shot straight toward where Zu An was hiding.

Zu An leaped down from the tree, knowing that the other party had already

found him. He stared at her in astonishment as he asked, “You’re able to

sense me?”

Qiao Xueying was in no rush to make her move. “Every tree and every

grass in this forest are my eyes and ears. Where could you possibly hide?”

Zu An’s face turned grim. If what she said was true, he had really cornered

himself by choosing to escape into the forest. However, he still found it

hard to believe that those who had awakened the wood element would

actually be powerful to this extent. At the very least, he hadn’t seen any fire

element cultivators summoning magma from underground yet.

“What’s with that slash earlier on? Why did it leave me with an

overwhelming sense of dread, as if I was facing death itself?” asked Qiao

Xueying.

This was the question that had been plaguing her mind all this while. Given

the disparity in their strength, there was no way Zu An’s attack could have

breached her defense.

“You want to know? Call me big brother Zu, and I’ll tell you,” replied Zu

An casually.

In his head, however, his mind was whirring quickly to figure a way to

escape from this situation.

Qiao Xueying’s face turned cold. “It has been a while since we last met, but

you’re still as hateful as ever.”

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +400 Rage!

Zu An sighed deeply. “It has been a while since we last met, but your mouth

is still as foul as ever.”

Qiao Xueying harrumphed coldly. She slowly flicked her finger upward,

and the leaves in the area began dancing around her body. “I’ll break your

arms and legs. Let’s see if you can still talk tough afterward.”

With a wave of her wrist, the leaves immediately whizzed toward Zu An’s

limbs, moving at a speed so fast that it seemed to reach him in the blink of

an eye.

Zu An’s silhouette blurred as he dodged those leaves by a hair’s breadth.

Cold sweat began trickling down his back. If not for his Sunflower

Phantasm, that earlier attack would have punctured him full of holes.

Knowing that he would be a goner if he remained in a defensive position,

he began charging toward Qiao Xueying to launch a new wave of offense,

hoping to curb her attacks even by a little. At this point, he had already

switched out to a regular sword. He was reserving Poisonous Prick for

critical moments so as to avoid revealing its true nature. Otherwise, it

would be much harder for him to defeat his opponents if others were

guarded against it.

“Hm?”

Zu An’s movement skill was so bizarre that Qiao Xueying was unable to

make sense of it. She chose to back away for the time being, but Zu An’s

sword continued to pursue her tightly, not letting her escape at all.

With a cold harrumph, she waved her hand. The leaves in the area began

fluttering around her like dancing butterflies, blocking off Zu An’s attacks.

Zu An tried to approach her from different angles, but he was unable to

pierce through the barrier of green leaves.

“It’s just the most ordinary Elementary Swordplay from the academy, but

you were able to bring out such prowess from it. I guess it was not entirely

bad luck that Yuan Wendong lost to you,” said Qiao Xueying.

If not for the huge gap in their cultivation ranks, she might not have been

able to cope with him and his swordplay in a direct encounter. But of

course, there was no way she would say those words aloud lest this hateful

man got too gleeful.

“However, it’s all over now!”

Zu An immediately realized that things were getting bad for him. He

hurriedly backed away, but countless vines were slithering across the

ground like an army of snakes, rushing in his direction.

Zu An tried his best to dodge the vines with his movement skill.

Is this the true prowess of a fifth rank cultivator? The power of elements is

truly difficult for lower-ranked cultivators to cope with. Thinking back, it’s

truly a relief that I prepared an electromagnet to deal with Yuan Wendong’s

army of swords. Otherwise, no matter how formidable ‘Bixie Swordplay’

is, I probably won’t be able to defeat him.

Zu An’s movements grew faster and faster, but the vines in the area began

weaving together to form a huge net, slowly stifling his escape routes.

Slowly but surely, he was getting cornered.

Once, when he was landing on the ground, a tree branch lying on the

ground suddenly morphed into a rope, catching him off guard. He lost

balance for a moment before crashing into a tree. Countless vines

immediately darted forth to bind him in place.

Zu An tried his best to struggle out of the vines, but he wasn’t able to break

free.

Qiao Xueying slowly walked up to him with a triumphant smile hanging on

her lips. “Oh? Why aren’t you running anymore?”

“You were desperately trying to get me to stay. How could I let you down?”

replied Zu An.

Qiao Xueying’s face turned cold. She picked the sword he had dropped on

the ground and said, “Hmph, your tongue still remains sharp even when

you’re already at death’s door. Let’s see if you’ll still continue running your

mouth after I sever your tongue!”

“Sever whatever you want, but at least make sure it’s a clean cut so that I

can attach it back.” Zu An gulped.

Qiao Xueying burst into laughter. Perhaps it was because victory was

already in her grasp, she was actually humored by Zu An’s words. “You

want me to cut your tongue cleanly? That isn’t a problem at all. If you trust

me, I can dice your body up clean enough so that you can reattach your

body piece by piece afterward.”

“I trust you. There’s no need for you to demonstrate it,” replied Zu An

hurriedly.

Qiao Xueying harrumphed. “That won’t do. You don’t have a choice here.”

Zu An sighed deeply before putting on a more severe tone, saying, “Snow,

have you forgotten how it felt to give birth the last time?”

Just hearing the words ‘give birth’ was more than enough to make Snow

stagger backward in horror. That excruciating pain that seemed to seep right

into her bones had dealt to her a lasting trauma, such that she had many

nightmares about it over the last few nights. “W-what do you mean? Were

you… Were you the one who did it to me back then?!”

This was a question she had been wondering for quite some time now. She

had visited many physicians to check on her condition back then, but all of

them said that there was nothing wrong with her body at all. No one was

able to figure out the cause of those abrupt spasms she suffered.

Most of them told her that her symptoms were identical to the labor pain

suffered during childbirth. As a maiden, she felt deeply offended and

angered to hear those words.

“I told you that I would give you a taste of what pregnancy feels like, but

you still continue to pursue me relentlessly. Are you getting addicted to

childbirth now?”

Zu An had already decided to use his ‘Knock-You-Up Eyes’. There were

only two uses remaining, but considering the current circumstances, it

didn’t seem like he had any other choice now.

I was too kind the last time around, and it cost me another use of this skill. I

mustn’t make the same mistake anymore.

It was at this moment that Zu An suddenly widened his eyes. He stared at

something right behind Qiao Xueying in disbelief for a moment before

exclaiming in surprise, “Honey, you’re here?”

This time around, Qiao Xueying didn’t even bother to turn around. She

sneered coldly, “Did you think that I would fall for the same trick twice?”

But the next moment, she suddenly found her body trembling

uncontrollably. A thin layer of ice had formed on her body, freezing her in

place.

Chu Chuyan slowly walked over as she said, “So you were Snow. I should

have guessed.”

“Y-young miss…” Qiao Xueying’s heart shuddered.

It really is her! Damn it, it’s all Zu An’s fault! If not for him distracting me,

I wouldn’t have been done in so easily!

So, she shot Zu An a glare.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +530 Rage!

Zu An was rendered speechless. What is wrong with this woman? The one

curbing you here is Chu Chuyan! What does this have to do with me?

“Young miss? I don’t think I’m worthy of being addressed that way by

you,” said Chu Chuyan.

As she spoke, she walked over to Zu An’s side. With a swipe of her hand,

frost immediately cloaked the vines and weakened their structure, allowing

her to break them with just a tpa of her finger.

Excited, Zu An rushed forward to give her a big hug. “How wonderful,

honey! I never thought that I would meet you here. Come, give me a hug of

love!”

Chu Chuyan dodged his hug with a sidestep, ignoring him altogether. She

turned her eyes back onto Qiao Xueying.

Many emotions flickered across Qiao Xueying’s face, and in the end, she

sighed deeply and said, “I’m deeply grateful for young miss’ care and

concern over the years. It’s just that I already have a master, so I ask for

your forgiveness.”

“Who’s the master you speak of? Shi Kun?” asked Chu Chuyan.

Qiao Xueying shook her head and said, “I apologize, but I cannot reveal

that to you.”

Chu Chuyan frowned. She wasn’t sure about how she should deal with the

current situation either. In the midst of this silence, Zu An stepped forward

and offered a solution, “Isn’t this easy to deal with? Ask her any question

you want to, and if she refuses to answer or lies, I’ll strip off a piece of her

clothing. If she refuses to speak till the end, I’ll take off all of her clothes

and tie her to a tree at the entrance of the forest so that everyone can admire

her body.”

“…” Chu Chuyan.

Qiao Xueying’s body trembled in fury. “You bastard!”

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +1024 Rage!

Zu An sighed softly and said, “You also know that you serve a different

master, so you should have known what your plight would be if you got

caught. If you’re going to continue insisting on your silence, I’m going to

start.”

He picked his sword back up and pointed it toward her robe.

Chu Chuyan stepped forward and stopped him. “Enough. It won’t do to

humiliate a woman like this.”

Zu An shrugged. “We’re the only ones here. You’re a woman, and I’ve

already seen everything her body has to offer. How can this be considered a

humiliation?”

Chu Chuyan found herself at a loss for words. For some reason, Zu An’s

words always had their own twisted logic that made it hard to argue against

him.

Qiao Xueying glared at Zu An so sharply that it felt like daggers were going

to fly right out of her eyes. That matter was her greatest shame, but this man

actually spoke of it as if it was nothing at all.

You have trolled Qiao Xueying for +512 Rage!

Chu Chuyan waved her hand and dispelled the frost shrouding Qiao

Xueying’s body. “Leave.”

Qiao Xueying was stunned. “You’re letting me off?”

“Your motives for approaching me were impure, but it doesn’t change the

fact that we had been sisters for many years. I can’t bring myself to take

your life. I wish you all the best from now onward,” said Chu Chuyan.

Chapter 150: It's Precisely Because

of You that I'm No Match for Them

Zu An felt that his wife was being needlessly kind to her enemies, and he

had a strong feeling that it would backfire on her in the future.

Nevertheless, the words that poured out of his mouth ended up being

compliments, “Honey, your heart is truly made out of gold. It’s no wonder

why others call you a fairy!”

Qiao Xueying shot a glare at Zu An hatefully, “Our young miss is a fairy,

but it’s a pity that she married a fellow like you. It’s almost like a flower

had been stuck on top of cow dung!”

Zu An shrugged off those remarks and said, “It’s no wonder why people say

that you’re a long-haired, willow-waisted boor. Don’t you know that cow

dung can provide a flower with a lot of nutrients, allowing it to blossom

more ravishingly than the others? In my view, it’s a flower’s greatest

blessing to be stuck on top of cow dung.”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

“…” Chu Chuyan.

“What fate it is to actually bump into young miss Chu here!”

Refreshing laughter suddenly sounded in the distance. The three of them

quickly turned their heads over, only to see Shi Kun walking over with his

entourage.

Admittedly, Shi Kun did look dashing amidst the bunch of crooked faces

around him, but the more good-looking he appeared, the more Zu An

wanted to sink a punch into his face. It was enough for this world to have a

hottie like him; there was no need for another inferior replacement!

Qiao Xueying’s eyes widened in astonishment upon seeing Shi Kun. She

knew that her failure must have disappointed the young master, but what

she was more worried about right now was a conflict breaking out between

the young master and the young miss. What was she to do if that were to

happen?

Chu Chuyan shot a glance at Shi Kun and said, “Young master Shi, what

brings you here?”

“I was just taking a look around the dungeon and happened to pass by here.

It sure was a stroke of luck for me to stumble upon young miss Chu here,”

replied Shi Kun with a smile.

His eyes had been intently fixed on Chu Chuyan all this while, treating Zu

An as nothing more than thin air.

“A stroke of luck? That’s hard to say.”

Chu Chuyan glanced at Shi Kun and the lackeys around him. There were

two fourth rank and five third rank cultivators, but it was worth noticing

that she had never seen them in the academy before. It was a wonder how

the Shi clan managed to slip them into the dungeon.

“Young miss Chu, you’re making fun of me.” Shi Kun was still maintaining

a smile on his lips, but his heart had already turned cold. Snow is indeed

useless. Again and again, she keeps failing me. Now that Zu An has met up

with Chu Chuyan, it won’t be easy to take his life anymore.

“I’ll have a chat with you when we’re out of the dungeon. For now, we need

to continue exploring the area.” Chu Chuyan turned around and left the

area.

Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t fear Shi Kun and his lackeys,

but for some reason, the injuries she sustained from fighting the sixth rank

Wu Di on the dueling ring the other day wasn’t healing well.

Shi Kun’s cultivation was unlikely to be beneath hers, and he had Snow on

his side too. Considering all of their lackeys as well, she was definitely at a

disadvantage here.

“Young miss Chu, please wait for a moment,” Shi Kun called out. “There

are all sorts of bizarre phenomena occurring in the dungeon, making it more

dangerous than before. Why don’t we group up so that we can look after

one another?”

“There’s no need for that,” replied Chu Chuyan. She didn’t even bother to

turn around to answer.

“You still don’t get it? She’s telling you not to be a lamppost! Get lost, don’t

interrupt our lovey-dovey time.” Zu An waved Shi Kun away in disdain

before hurriedly chasing after Chu Chuyan.

Watching their departing silhouettes, Shi Kun clenched his fists furiously,

cracking his joints.

Damn you, Zu An! You won’t remain smug for long!

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +512 Rage!

Meanwhile, after chasing up to Chu Chuyan, Zu An asked curiously,

“Honey, it was queer how you coincidentally appeared when I was in a

critical situation. Have you been secretly following me out of worry?”

“I’m not that free,” replied Chu Chuyan. “I met Ji Xiaoxi earlier, and she

informed me that you were in danger. So, I came over to take a look.”

“Is Xiaoxi fine?” asked Zu An anxiously. He had been worrying about Ji

Xiaoxi’s plight all this while. He had indeed lured the zombies away, but

there were all sorts of other dangers lurking in the dungeon too. It didn’t

seem safe for her to be traveling all alone.

“Other than the sprain on her leg, she’s fine,” replied Chu Chuyan. She

paused for a brief moment before asking once more, “She seems to be very

anxious about you. The two of you don’t seem to be normal friends.”

“Ah, I didn’t think that you would figure it out so quickly.” Zu An laughed

heartily. “It’s not that I want to brag about my charisma, but people used to

call me ‘Kidnapper of Ladies’ Hearts’, ‘Widow’s Bane’, ‘Auntie

Bewitcher’… Any women who have gotten to know me will find

themselves falling deeply in love with me… Ahhhh, don’t go!”

Chu Chuyan harrumphed coldly. “Why didn’t Snow fall for you then?”

“She might look desperate to kill me on the surface, but this is what you

call ‘a loving, quarreling couple’[1]. Love and hate are two sides of a coin.

Who knows? Her feelings for me might just flip over in the next moment!”

“…” Chu Chuyan.

“But honey, you don’t need to get jealous! No matter how many women

come to love me in the future, none of them can possibly shake the position

you have in my heart!” Zu An patted his chest confidently.

“You sure are confident in yourself,” remarked Chu Chuyan.

“Of course! The key to a man’s charm is his confidence!” answered Zu An.

Chu Chuyan couldn’t be bothered to argue with him on this. Her eyes fell

upon his chest, and she exclaimed in astonishment, “What’s with this

wound? Did Snow cause it?”

“How could she have the ability to do so? It’s caused by Shi Kun’s other

lackeys.”

Zu An quickly filled her in on the fight he had previously in the forest.

Even someone as calm as Chu Chuyan was shocked by the news. “A late

fourth rank, two mid fourth rank, and an early fourth rank cultivator were

chasing you, but you still managed to turn the tables on them?”

“I’m incredible, aren’t I?” replied Zu An gleefully.

“But how could that be possible?” Chu Chuyan couldn’t come to terms with

it.

Zu An was only a third rank cultivator at the moment. While he did manage

to defeat Yuan Wendong on the dueling ring back then, everyone could tell

that his victory was, to a huge degree, luck. There was no doubt that he was

indeed stronger than most third rank cultivators, but his strength wasn’t so

great as to be able to defeat four fourth rank assassins!

“There’s still a lot to me which you don’t know of, but it’s fine. Time will

eventually show you,” said Zu An with a mysterious smile.

“Then how did you get caught by Snow earlier?” asked Chu Chuyan.

Zu An scratched his head sheepishly as he replied, “Well, we just happened

to be in the forest. Her elemental ability is wood, and I happened to get

careless.”

Chu Chuyan nodded in realization before falling silent.

“Ah right, why did you leave earlier? Those are the assassins that Shi Kun

has brought into the dungeon to come after my life. As my wife, shouldn’t

you stand up for me?” asked Zu An. There was a hint of dissatisfaction in

his tone.

Chu Chuyan’s face reddened. It took her a long while before she finally

answered, “I can’t defeat them.”

“You can’t defeat them?” Zu An was taken aback by the unexpected

answer. “But you’re the number one prodigy of Brightmoon City! Your

words just shattered the majestic impression I have of you in my heart.”

“Shut up!” snapped Chu Chuyan. Then, she exhaled deeply and explained,

“Shi Kun’s cultivation is not beneath mine, and he has Snow and a huge

group of assistants by his side. How are we supposed to stand up to them in

the earlier situation?”

“But you have me on your side too!” grumbled Zu An in discontentment.

Honestly, he would love more than anything to get rid of Shi Kun. The

latter had made many attempts to take his life in the past, and there was

little doubt that he would continue to do so in the future too.

To snip off the root of the problem, Zu An would have to eventually deal

with Shi Kun, and this dungeon was the greatest opportunity he had.

Otherwise, once they were out of here, it would be hard to touch Shi Kun,

especially since he had powerful experts constantly guarding him.

“It’s precisely because of you that I’m unable to defeat them!” Chu Chuyan

rebutted coldly.

Zu An was rendered speechless for a long while. He had never known this

cold wife he had was actually so good at arguing.

“Hahaha, I heard from Elder Shi that young miss Chu has suffered

significant injuries on the dueling ring, but it looks like your injuries are

more severe than I thought.”

A peal of laughter sounded from the distance as Shi Kun walked out with a

paper fan in his hand. He was accompanied with his group of lackeys, and

Qiao Xueying was standing amidst them with a complicated look on her

face.

Chu Chuyan immediately turned around with a deep frown. “You were

eavesdropping on us?”

Shi Kun snapped his paper fan shut before continuing on with a smile,

“Young miss Chu, are you unaware that I practice a wind element

cultivation technique? There’s a skill amongst wind cultivators known as

‘Whisking Wind’ that allows one to amplify any sounds in the area, and we

just happen to be standing in the direction of the windflow.”

Chu Chuyan glanced at the lackeys, who had dispersed around the area, and

asked, “What do you intend to do? Are you trying to pick a fight with me?”

Shi Kun shook his head. “Young miss Chu, you’re misunderstanding. I’ve

admired you for a very long time, so you need not fear that I’ll make things

hard for you. The only one I wish to deal with here is Zu An.”

Zu An’s heart sank. So Chu Chuyan is still injured. It’s no wonder why her

face continued to remain pale over the last few days.

“Zu An is my husband. Your action is no different from provoking me,”

replied Chu Chuyan.

Zu An was stunned. He hadn’t expected Chu Chuyan to say such words.

Her usual cold attitude made him doubt if they were really a family, but

during such a critical moment, she actually openly acknowledged him to be

her husband.

What’s going on? Why do I feel so touched?

Shi Kun’s suave face distorted upon hearing those words. He began pacing

around in irritation before snapping furiously, “Just how in the world is this

scoundrel qualified to be your husband? Young miss Chu, you’re a woman

bestowed with utmost beauty and top-notch cultivation talent by heaven.

Only the most outstanding man in the world is qualified to stand by your

side! That man over there is nothing but trash…”

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +256 +256 +256…

Zu An interjected in before Shi Kun could even finish his words, “Hold it

there for a moment, Brother Shit Kun, could the ‘most outstanding man in

the world’ you speak of be referring to you?”

“So what if it is?” replied Shi Kun arrogantly.

“Oh? If I’m not mistaken, the most outstanding man in the world should be

His Majesty. If you really mean what you say, could that mean that you

think that even His Majesty isn’t as powerful and outstanding as you are?”

Zu An chuckled softly.

“I…” Shi Kun nearly choked right there. He never thought that Zu An

would pick such a fault from his words. “That’s naturally not what I mean.

You should stop trying to twist my words to slander me!”

No matter how arrogant Shi Kun was, there was no way he would dare to

disrespect the emperor. If the emperor were to hear of this matter, it would

bring down not just him but his entire clan too. As a prominent clan in the

capital, he grew up listening to stories about the emperor, so he naturally

knew how terrifying the emperor was.

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +444 Rage!

“Since that’s the case, wouldn’t it mean that you were just boasting about

your own capabilities?” scoffed Zu An. He looked at Shi Kun with eyes

dripping with disdain.

“…” Shi Kun.

He felt that the refined and gentlemanly image he had painstakingly built up

over the years was going to be ruined in the hands of this scoundrel! Why is

this bloody rascal so hateful?!

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +512 Rage!

Chu Chuyan also added in at this moment, “I’m choosing a husband here,

not a scholar or a general. It just happens that Zu An fits my criteria, so I’m

afraid that I’ll have to turn down your feelings for me.”

Zu An’s eyes lit up. He reached out to grab Chu Chuyan’s cool yet tender

hands and said, “Honey, I knew that you are fond of me!”

“…” Chu Chuyan.

Her instinctive reaction was to shake off his hand, but considering the

context, it didn’t seem right for her to do so.

This fellow sure knows how to take advantage of me!

Looking at the tightly linked hands between the two of them, Shi Kun’s

face turned completely livid. “Chu Chuyan, I’ve always thought of you as a

pure maiden, but how dare you hold the hand of another man? Are you such

a loose woman?!”

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +999 Rage!

1. It’s used to describe a couple, often married, who keeps arguing with one

another, but despite the apparent disharmony, they are actually in love with

one another and cares for each other, just that they express their feelings in

a different way.

Chapter 151: Befriend a Rich Man

Zu An nearly burst out laughing upon hearing those words.

Please, she’s my wife. I’ll hold her hands whenever I want to. What

business of it is yours? Aren’t you too narcissistic? You actually want my

wife to remain maidenly for your sake?

That obsession of yours is a mental disorder! Go and get yourself locked up

in the asylum or something!

Chu Chuyan’s face turned cold. “It’s out of your place to interfere in the

affairs of me and my husband.”

Even someone who was as nonchalant as her was getting angry at this

situation too. What’s wrong with him? Even Zu An looks far more normal

compared to him!

Shi Kun took a deep breath to calm himself before saying, “I thought of you

as a fairy descending from heaven, and I was intending to pursue you

slowly. However, it looks like my plan isn’t going to work out. If I continue

taking my time, another man would only get to you before me.”

By the side, Qiao Xueying felt a little hesitant to speak up. Young master,

there’s actually no need for you to worry. Zu An is… But she found herself

unable to speak up as she wouldn’t be able to justify why she hid this matter

from him in the first place.

Zu An and Chu Chuyan also shot looks of astonishment toward Qiao

Xueying too, clearly bearing the same thoughts in mind. They also didn’t

expect the latter to hide the fact that Zu An was impotent from Shi Kun.

Zu An nudged his wife and whispered softly, “See? Even though Snow

keeps taunting me about that, she still cares a lot for my reputation.”

Chu Chuyan was also perplexed about the situation too. Could these two

really be the what ‘loving, quarreling couple’ that Zu An spoke about

earlier?

Their intimate interaction further fanned the inferno burning in Shi Kun’s

heart. “I shall just skip the hassle and get straight to the act. Right here right

now, I shall kill Zu An and seal the deal with you!”

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +678 Rage!

“You were indeed the culprit all along! The reason why you slotted Snow

into the Chu clan and slipped so many of your lackeys into the academy

was all to make me yours?”

“Indeed! I was mesmerized by you at first sight, so I made many

arrangements for it over the years. Many women have offered themselves to

me, but I didn’t even spare a glance at them. Our relationship shall be

perfect, built upon purity. Aren’t you impressed by the sheer devotion I

carry for you?” Shi Kun looked at Chu Chuyan in anticipation.

At the same time, he felt greatly tilted as well. The goddess in his heart had

already been sullied by another man’s hand now. He couldn’t help but

wonder if they had even more intimate interactions over the days, and just

the thought of it was enough to drive him insane.

He had more than a decade of effort into this just so that he could court the

lady of his dreams. It was finally all within grasp, and all that was left was

for him to make a move. Yet, another man actually got to her first! How

could he possibly not be angered?

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +785 Rage!

“You disgust me,” said Chu Chuyan with a deep frown.

“You!!!”

Shi Kun could have never thought that all the sacrifices he had made would

lead to such an outcome. His face turned so livid that it looked as if it would

seep out ink.

“Very well. Since you harbor no feelings for me, it looks like I’ll have to go

around it by force. You might hate me at the start, but once your body is

mine, you’ll eventually come to accept and love me. Hahaha!”

“Shameless!” Chu Chuyan’s eyes glazed with frost. Unable to take it

anymore, she drew her sword and charged right toward Shi Kun.

However, Shi Kun was already prepared. He summoned four tornadoes

around him as he stepped forward to meet with Chu Chuyan’s attack.

It was said that if one were to master the Shi clan’s Wind God Formula to

the highest level, one would be able to summon nine devastating tornadoes

that could bring about ruination. Even though he was only able to summon

four at the moment, compared to those in his age group, he could easily

count as one of the three most talented cultivators in the entire history of the

Shi clan.

Soon, the two of them began crossing blows with one another, causing a

snowstorm to rage. The surrounding grass was covered in frost, and many

of the trees in the area were battered down by the powerful wind.

Behind Chu Chuyan, Zu An silently slipped out Poisonous Prick, ready to

launch a surprise attack on Shi Kun as soon as the latter showed an opening.

How could he possibly tolerate another man coveting his wife?

However, his plan was destined to never come to fruition, for Shi Kun’s

lackeys were not fools. The two fourth rank and five third rank cultivators

immediately charged toward Zu An.

They had just seen with their own eyes just how much Shi Kun hated Zu

An, so they implicitly understood that they would be handsomely rewarded

if they ended Zu An’s life with their own hands.

It was just that Zu An was no pushover either. He was already angry enough

as he was, and these lackeys still wanted to stand in his way at a moment

like this. With a flash of his sword, he ended the life of one of the third rank

cultivators mercilessly.

The remaining six lackeys immediately froze up in place.

To their horror, none of them had actually managed to see how Zu An

managed to land the blow earlier. His sword was clearly aimed at Shi Kun,

but for some inexplicable reason, it twisted in an unnatural angle, and

before they knew it, one of their comrades had already fallen. This eerie

occurrence crushed their confidence to defeat Zu An, causing them to

hesitate.

Qiao Xueying, who had been watching him all this while, was alarmed too.

She knew that Zu An had been playing the fool in the Chu clan all this

while, but she never expected him to actually know such profound

swordplay.

She suddenly recalled how Zu An had dragged her into the lake back then.

She thought that it was due to her fear of water that led to her getting done

in that easily back then, but looking back at it now, Zu An’s unexpected

strength probably played a huge role as well.

Just thinking about his hands pumping down on her chest made her face

redden in embarrassment and fury.

He really is a despicable scoundrel through and through!

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +128 Rage!

The other six lackeys had been intimidated by Zu An’s attack, but that

wasn’t enough to stop them. Their initial plan was to confront Zu An head-

on and take him down, but right now, they chose to split up and encircle

him instead.

No matter how powerful Zu An might be, there was so much he could do

against the encirclement of six skilled cultivators. He could only try his best

to dodge their attacks using Sunflower Phantasm. It was fortunate that these

cultivators were far weaker and less skilled than Jia Zhengjing and the

others, or else he would have probably been dead by now.

Everyone implicitly understood that the key of the battle lay in the fight

between Shi Kun and Chu Chuyan. If Shi Kun won, Zu An would definitely

fall as well. If Chu Chuyan won, a bunch of third rank and fourth rank

cultivators like them wouldn’t possibly dare to confront her.

All of a sudden, Shi Kun burst into laughter and said, “Chuyan, if you had

been in your peak, I would probably only have an equal chance of defeating

you. In your current state, however, you stand not a sliver of a chance at

all!”

Under the augmentation of Wind God Formula, his sword formed countless

after images, as if a storm battering down on the enemy.

On the other hand, Chu Chuyan ignored Shi Kun’s words and formed an ice

barrier before her in order to deal with Shi Kun’s attack.

The swords crashing on the ice barrier produced jarring clanging noises,

and soon, cracks began forming on the surface of the ice barrier.

Shi Kun roared in laughter upon seeing the cracks whereas Chu Chuyan’s

frown deepened.

Eventually, the ice barrier succumbed, and Shi Kun morphed into a tornado

and charged forth. Everything that stood in his way, be it rocks or stones,

were crushed into smithereens. Nothing could stand in the path between

him and Chu Chuyan anymore.

Chu Chuyan knew that she would be disadvantaged in a direct battle against

Shi Kun in her current state, so she chose to kite him instead. She danced

around the battlefield like a snow fairy amidst the storm.

Zu An was worried for Chu Chuyan after learning of her injuries, so he

made sure to keep an eye out for her. He noticed that she was being forced

back by the mini storm ravaging the area. While she hadn’t been struck yet,

it didn’t seem like she would be able to last long before this overwhelming

force struck her.

His heart couldn’t help but tremble in worry. His momentary distraction

caused him to suffer a few more wounds on his wound, but fortunately, he

was still able to dodge in time and avoid any fatal injuries.

Chu Chuyan was taking a defensive position at the moment, but that didn’t

mean that she had given up on the fight yet. Soon, the opportunity she was

waiting for arrived, and she harrumphed coldly, “Did you think that you

were the only one capable of summoning a storm?”

Her sword moved in a beautiful arc, reminiscent of a dance. A snowstorm

swiftly began to build up around her before gushing in Shi Kun’s direction.

The two storms collided with one another in a deafening collision,

producing devastating wind blades that rippled outward, ravaging

everything with its touch. Everything was sliced into two under their

furious assault, be it grass, tree, or even boulders.

Sensing the terrifying shockwave heading in their direction, the battling

cultivators quickly retreated to seek cover. One of the early third rank

cultivators wasn’t able to get away in time and ended up getting battered by

the surrounding ice shards, smashing bloodied holes in his body.

Zu An was appalled. The strength wielded by fifth rank cultivators was

indeed far beyond his current means to deal with. It would appear that his

triumph over Yuan Wendong was indeed mostly due to the help of modern

technology.

Meanwhile, Chu Chuyan and Shi Kun were standing in the heart of the

storm, their silhouettes flickering here and there as they hurled blows at one

another.

It was slowly becoming apparent that the windstorm was getting

overwhelmed by the snowstorm, and it eventually got to a point where

everything within twenty meters radius of Chu Chuyan turned snowy white.

Shi Kun’s hair, limbs, and the surface of his body were coated in a layer of

frost.

Even he was taken aback by this outcome. It’s no wonder why this woman

was dubbed as the most talented prodigy of Brightmoon City. Despite her

current state, I’m still in a disadvantageous position against her in a direct

clash.

“What are you dawdling over there for? Help me!” Shi Kun glared at Qiao

Xueying sharply.

His earlier actions toward Chu Chuyan had effectively led to a complete

fallout. By this point, he couldn’t care about his pride or dignity anymore.

Or rather, if Chu Chuyan and Zu An were to get out of here alive, both he

and the entire Shi clan would be shamed!

Qiao Xueying was still deeply conflicted. She was unwilling to make a

move against Chu Chuyan, but she couldn’t disobey the young master’s

order either. Biting her lips, she eventually decided to charge toward Zu An

instead.

The young master didn’t mention whom she should help anyway, so it was

the same for her to deal with this hateful fellow too.

Zu An clicked this tongue. This shrew just wouldn’t give up, huh?

With a fifth rank cultivator joining the fray, the pressure on Zu An was

immediately heightened. But surprisingly—perhaps it was due to Qiao

Xueying holding back, or that her coordination with the other cultivators

was lacking—he found himself barely able to hold on against such a

powerful line-up.

On the other hand, Shi Kun frowned upon seeing her actions. It should have

been obvious that he was telling Qiao Xueying to back him up, but she

chose to attack Zu An instead. Does she still feel a bond toward the Chu

clan?

However, this wasn’t the time to be pursuing such stuff. He had to focus his

attention on dealing with Chu Chuyan for the time being. In any case, as

long as the others subdue Zu An’s quickly, they would be able to focus their

strength on dealing with Chu Chuyan.

Chu Chuyan also noticed the situation over on Zu An’s side too. Zu An was

already in a bad position dealing with six cultivators simultaneously, and

the addition of Snow into the line-up further worsened his plight.

In a moment of agitation, her face suddenly began to turn unnaturally red.

Then, she spurted a mouth of fresh blood filled with ice fragments, causing

her aura to weaken significantly.

Shi Kun was delighted to see that. It looks like her injuries are finally acting

up on her now. Heh, there’s no way I can lose now!

So, he immediately moved in to pressure her, causing a twist in the

situation.

Zu An swiftly noticed the anomaly with Chu Chuyan, and considering the

terrible position he was in too, it would only be a matter of time before they

got done in here. So, he took in a deep breath and shouted out loudly, “Wait

a moment! I’m friends with your young master!”

Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes. You’re friends with the young master?

Hahaha! Why don’t you say that I’m in love with you instead? That would

have been far more credible!

The other lackeys were also intending to shrug off Zu An’s remark and

continue their assault, but unexpectedly, Shi Kun shouted back, “Hold it

right there! He’s indeed my friend!”

Chapter 152: A Friend's Wife

Shouldn't Be Coveted

Everyone immediately turned to look at Shi Kun in astonishment upon

hearing those words.

“???” Qiao Xueying.

“???” Shi Kun’s lackeys.

Qiao Xueying even began wondering if the young master had lost his

sanity. How could he possibly be friends with Zu An? That’s impossible!

Chu Chuyan was utterly dumbfounded too. What is Shi Kun up to this time

around?

But the one who was the most dumbfounded of all was no other than Shi

Kun. He felt like his mind had turned into mush as two conflicting

tendencies arose in his head. He even wondered if he had gone mad.

Meanwhile, Zu An heaved a sigh of relief. In this critical moment, he

decided to use his skill ‘Befriend a Rich Man’!

Still, how does this skill take my money away though? Do my banknotes

just mysteriously disappear or something? More importantly, do I need to

bring my banknotes with me, or does it just apply to money that belongs to

me?

Goddamnit! I lost 100,000 silver taels just like that! Even a firework goes

off with a bam, but my 100,000 silver taels vanished without even a poof!

Just looking at the culprit who forced him to use the skill filled him with

great fury, but he forced himself to put on a smile. He walked over to Shi

Kun with his arms opened wide, as if preparing to embrace the latter. “Ah,

my friend! My deepest apologies for the misunderstandings we had

between us earlier!”

Qiao Xueying looked at Zu An as if he was an idiot. You want to hug the

young master? Hah, your arms are going to be severed off!

Chu Chuyan also felt her heart thumping nervously. She silently approached

the two of them, thinking that she would step right in to save Zu An in case

Shi Kun attempted anything.

But to everyone’s disbelief, Shi Kun also opened his arms wide as well to

invite Zu An in for an embrace, replying, “My friend, I’ve no idea what

gotten over me earlier. Please forgive me for my earlier foolishness.”

Qiao Xueying rubbed her eyes in bewilderment.

Oh my god, I’m going to go blind. When in the world did the young master

become friends with Zu An?! Did I get off the wrong side of my bed today?

Or am I actually dreaming right now?

She looked at the lackeys around her, only to see disgusted expressions on

their faces. Their reactions told her clearly that she wasn’t seeing things

here.

Chu Chuyan also thought that the situation unfolding before her eyes was

utterly ridiculous. It made her suspect if Zu An had been on the same side

as Shi Kun right from the start.

No, that can’t be. Given Shi Kun’s personality, there’s no way he would

tolerate his subordinate becoming my husband. If so, Zu An is likely sent

by other clans. Is he from the emperor’s faction or the empress’ faction?

All of a sudden, Chu Chuyan felt her body turning icy-cold. She had tried

her best to guard against them, but she still fell for their schemes in the end.

You have successfully trolled Chu Chuyan for +512 Rage!

She wasn’t the only one who felt despaired. The others were also

contributing a lot of Rage points to Zu An too.

Looking at the inflow of Rage points in his system, Zu An silently thought,

Honey, please calm down for now. I’ll explain it all to you later!

Just as he and Shi Kun were about to embrace one another, he summoned

Poisonous Prick and aimed it right toward the latter.

He had been wondering how he could best use ‘Befriending a Rich Man’

since it was time-limited, and the concept of ‘friends’ was simply too

vague. Everyone had their own interpretation of it, after all!

However, he figured that friends, regardless of what kind, would probably

not have their guards up against one another, which created the perfect

scenario for him to use Poisonous Prick. As long as he could get close

enough to nick the other party with it, he would be able to carry out any

assassination with ease.

As Poisonous Prick swiftly approached Shi Kun, a sinister smile suddenly

crept on Shi Kun’s face. He deflected Poisonous Prick with his sword

before abruptly sinking a punch into Zu An’s body.

Pu!

Zu An spurted a mouthful of blood as he staggered backward. It was

fortunate that he had his guard up all along, such that he managed to use

Sunflower Phantasm in the final moment to ward off the impact, or else that

single punch would have been more than enough to end his life.

This was yet another scene that completely confounded everyone. It was

just a second ago that they were friends delighted to reunite with one

another, but in the next second, they fell out with one another and tried to

take each other’s life. Just what kind of bizarre play was this?!

Chu Chuyan was bewildered, but she still rushed forward to catch Zu An

and stop Shi Kun from launching any follow-up attacks.

Zu An fell right into Chu Chuyan’s embrace, but he was too bewildered by

the happenings to enjoy her soft and comforting arms. Instead, he stared at

Shi Kun in shock as he exclaimed, “Why?! We’re obviously friends with

one another!”

He couldn’t make sense of the current situation. While the Keyboard system

did often offer terrible prizes, he had never faced any trouble with the

effectiveness of its tools before. So, why would it fail him now? Why

would Shi Kun still be guarded against him and even attempt to take his

life?

Shi Kun looked at Zu An with a smile and said, “We’re friends, but that

doesn’t change the fact that your wife is pretty. As they say, true friends go

through prosperity and suffering together, so I shan’t hold myself back

either.”

“^&*%#@” Zu An.

If the system could collect his Rage points too, it would definitely rocket

shoot through the limit right away.

He had never thought that his assassination attempt would actually fail due

to this.

Indeed, ‘Befriend a Rich Man’ had turned Shi Kun into his friend, but this

perverted bastard couldn’t curb his lustful thoughts for Chu Chuyan because

she was too pretty! In other words, he was determined to lay his hands on

Chu Chuyan regardless of whether Zu An was his friend or not!

Shit, how could I have overlooked such a possibility? Someone as cold-

hearted as Shi Kun wouldn’t hesitate to kill his friend as long as he could

gain something out of it!

Damn it, that’s 100,000 silver taels over there! It’s all going to waste just

like that!

Zu An thought that there was no greater misery in life than losing 100,000

silver taels in an instant, but it turned out that he was gravely wrong. Even

the saddest songs in the world couldn’t hope to describe the anguish he was

feeling at this very moment!

It looks like even though the skill can change my affection meter with an

individual, it cannot change the individual’s personality. Betrayal does

happen between friends after all, so I shouldn’t hope to think that

everything would be fine just because I become friends with someone.

Damn it, is there a rewind button in this world? Let me do it all again!

Shi Kun slowly walked over to Zu An and said, “I don’t know why you’re

suddenly a friend of mine, but as a fellow friend, allow me to reassure you

that you can leave in peace. I’ll take good care of your beautiful wife after

your death.”

Ever since he obtained the Rage system, he had been the one to anger others

and make them stamp their feet maddeningly, but for the first time in

forever, he was actually the one getting angry this time around. Shi Kun

was simply too depraved and warped that he couldn’t stand it at all.

It wasn’t just Zu An who was angered here. Chu Chuyan also looked at Shi

Kun with a frosty look on her face. “The world praises the Sixth Young

Master of the Shi clan for being a humble gentleman, but who could have

thought that a depraved beast hides beneath his cover of eloquence!”

Qiao Xueying also silently nodded in agreement. The current Shi Kun was

indeed very different from the man in her memories. She could understand

him for resorting to some underhanded means to court the woman he

fancied, but ever since arriving in this dungeon, perhaps it was due to him

knowing that nothing would get out, he lost the morals he usually shackled

on himself and began acting as he pleased.

The current Shi Kun felt incredibly foreign to her, leaving her with a great

sense of loss.

Shi Kun sneered ruthlessly, “Chu Chuyan, you were the one who forced me

to do this. If you hadn’t gotten overly intimate with other men, I wouldn’t

have anxiously resorted to such means either!”

“You lunatic!” bellowed Chu Chuyan.

“Well said, honey!” complimented Zu An with a thumbs up. Then, he added

his own share in too, “You fucking pervert!”

Initially, Shi Kun didn’t pay much heed to Zu An’s criticisms at all. In his

view, Zu An was already a dead man, and whatever insults he hurled were

nothing more than the death throes of the weak. In fact, Zu An’s shoutings

only further proved his strength and power, which left him with immense

satisfaction.

However, it was a different thing to see him doing it together with Chu

Chuyan. It felt as if they were the real couple here, and it ignited the pot of

envy in his heart.

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +996 Rage!

“Bastard Zu An, I’ll slice you into pieces!”

The light around Shi Kun suddenly distorted. Taking a closer look, many

translucent wind blades were floating around him, ready to strike forth at

any moment to splatter blood.

Tempestuous Blades!

With a furious howl, the wind blades began revolving furiously in Zu An’s

direction. Even without trying out their sharpness, Zu An had no doubt that

he would be sliced into sashimi pieces at this rate.

Naturally, Chu Chuyan wouldn’t leave him to the lurch. With a bellow, she

transformed everything within a three meters radius into ice, shrouding the

two of them amidst a blue barrier reminiscent of an eggshell.

It was just that this blue barrier was much more resilient than mere

eggshells. The onslaught of wind blades produced ‘kacha kacha’ sounds

upon striking the barrier, but they were unable to breach its defense.

However, Zu An wasn’t optimistic about the situation they were in. He

noticed that Chu Chuyan’s face was turning pale, and her breathing was

getting more and more irregular.

Shi Kun burst into laughter and said, “Young miss Chu’s ‘Blue Guardian’ is

indeed as spectacular as the rumors put it out to be. I just wonder how long

can it last. It looks like it’s diminishing at a visible pace.”

Chu Chuyan’s blue barrier had been six meters wide at the start, but it had

diminished to just around two meters now.

“The young master is truly formidable!”

“Looks like even the number one prodigy of Brightmoon City is nothing

before him!”

“No matter how formidable she is, she’s just a woman. Before our dashing

young master, it’s inevitable that she would succumb! Hahaha!”

…

Laughter roared in the surroundings as Shi Kun’s lackey cheered loudly for

him by the sidelines. It was apparent to anyone with eyes that Shi Kun had

the advantage here. The only one who remained silent was Qiao Xueying,

who watched the scene with a brooding look on her face.

A moment later, the blue barrier grew even smaller, becoming just a meter

wide. It left the duo inside with no choice but to huddle closely together.

Had it been on any other occasion, Zu An would surely have been delighted

to get so intimate with Chu Chuyan, but looking at her ghastly pale face and

the sweat dripping profusely from her cheeks, he couldn’t remain in his

merry mood anymore.

Meanwhile, Shi Kun watched as the cracks on the blue barrier grew more

and more numerous, and a smile finally broke on on his face.

It’s all finally going to be over. I’ll first deal with Zu An before sealing the

deal with Chu Chuyan.

Chu Chuyan is a prideful woman though. If I force my way with her, it’s

unlikely that she’d agree with it. Perhaps I should spare Zu An and use his

life to threaten her to submit to me?

Shi Kun was a little conflicted. The notion of Chu Chuyan submitting to

him for another man displeased him greatly, but the thought of the lofty

beauty kneeling before him for her husband felt incredibly enticing too.

Ahhh, my heart is racing now.

All of a sudden, Zu An asked, “Brother Shit, are you filial to your mother?”

Chapter 153: The First Man To Get

Pregnant in the Great Zhou

Dynasty

“Of course! Why would I not be filial to my mother?” Shi Kun snapped in

response.

The Great Zhou Dynasty embraced the value of filial piety. No matter how

lofty a person’s standing was, they dared not to be pinned with the label of

being unfilial.

“How can you claim that you’re filial without going through the hardship

brought about by ten months of pregnancy and the pain of labor? You don’t

know the suffering your mother has been through in order to have you!” Zu

An sighed deeply.

“…” Chu Chuyan.

She had no idea why Zu An was saying such words at this moment, but

again, he had always been an unpredictable person to her.

The other lackeys were dumbfounded too. Everything that had happened

today was so ridiculous that it felt like a badly written novel. The young

master and Zu An identified one another as their friends, then they fell out

with one another, and now, they were suddenly talking about filial piety.

What was wrong with this world?!

“…” Shi Kun.

He harrumphed coldly and said, “It’s out of consideration of our friendship

that I patiently answered your ridiculous question. Now that I’ve fulfilled

your curiosity, you can depart with peace of mind!”

“Since you view me as a friend, it’s only right for me to bequeath you with

a gift. I’ll allow you to experience the joys and hardship of pregnancy so

that you can better appreciate your own mother and become a more filial

son!” A mysterious smile emerged on Zu An’s face.

“What nonsense is that?” Shi Kun and his lackeys stared at Zu An as if he

was a fool. How could a man possibly get pregnant?

Only Qiao Xueying was alarmed at those words, and she shouted out loud,

“Young master, be careful!”

“Be careful?” Shi Kun was perplexed. Victory was already in his grasp, and

very soon, Chu Chuyan would be his. What was there to be careful about?

Ah? Why does my stomach suddenly feel bloated? Did I eat something

bad? Argh, it’s getting fuller and fuller…

Shi Kun’s face scrunched a little. He thought that he was suffering from

diarrhea. One must know that he valued his image as a refined gentleman

greatly, so it would be extremely humiliating for him if he had to run to the

toilet in the presence of so many people.

Hm? Why does it feel like my stomach is getting bigger and heavier?

He looked down at his own stomach, but there were clearly no changes at

all.

It’s getting more and more swollen!

It was a weird disconnect between how he felt and what he saw, and it made

him doubt his own senses. He turned to his lackeys and asked, “Is my

stomach getting bigger?”

“Bigger? It isn’t.”

The lackeys shook their heads in confusion. At the same time, they began

trading glances with one another.

“Isn’t there something very different with the young master today?”

“Yeah! He claimed that Zu An was his friend, and now, he’s asking if his

stomach is getting bigger…”

“Say, it is possible for the young master to have gone mad from envy from

seeing Zu An and young miss Chu getting so intimate with one another?”

“That’s very possible.”

…

Shi Kun couldn’t help but reach out to fondle his stomach, but no matter

how he touched it, the bizarre sensations he was feeling just wouldn’t go

away.

Soon, a mystifying pain assaulted him, causing his handsome face to

scrunch together. It was an incredibly weird pain, coming from his nether

region. He had never felt anything like this before. It felt like his soul was

screaming from within.

He was, after all, a reputed prodigy, a young master from a prominent clan.

He forced himself to swallow down the pain and stopped himself from

screaming out loud. He couldn’t bring himself to shriek before his lackeys

and the woman he loved.

Fortunately, the pain lasted for around ten seconds before finally fading off,

as if it had never been there.

“What’s going on?” Shi Kun frowned. He realized that the wind blades he

had been controlling were showing signs of dissipating, so he quickly

focused his attention on them once more.

But around thirty seconds later, that familiar yet foreign pain assaulted him

once more.

“Ah?”

The sudden assault of excruciating pain caused Shi Kun’s wind blades to

nearly scatter on the spot. W-why is it coming again?! He tried his best to

endure it, and once again, the pain vanished after a few seconds.

“Have I been cultivating too hard that my cultivation is going a little

berserk?” Shi Kun felt that he should get Elder Shi Lezhi to take a close

look at his current condition.

He quickly regathered his focus to control the wind blades once more, but

he couldn’t shake off the worry that the excruciating pain would strike him

once more.

Even though he was already mentally prepared for it, when the unbearable

pain struck again around twenty seconds later, he still nearly caved in on the

spot.

Shit! Stop it!

Worst of all, he realized that the interval between each assault of pain was

growing shorter, and the pain was getting more and more intense.

“What’s he doing?” Chu Chuyan stared at the livid-faced Shi Kun in

confusion.

She could sense that the wind blades in the surroundings were suddenly

alternating between strong and weak. Right now, it even looked like they

were going to dissipate. This lessened the pressure on her greatly.

“He might be reflecting on his evildoings now,” sneered Zu An.

That fellow would have never imagined that the pain he’s suffering is

known as labor pain. Well, no man in this world would have that experience

to share with him, and no woman would talk about this before a man in this

fairly conservative era.

Given how desperate the situation was becoming, he had no choice but to

use ‘Knock-You-Up Eyes’ here. Its effects were fairly splendid, but it was a

pity that he only had one use of it left after this.

Zu An wanted to rush forward to get rid of Shi Kun once and for all, but

seeing that Qiao Xueying and the others had already run over to cover him,

he had no choice but to drop that thought. With his current strength, he

couldn’t hope to overpower them.

Zu An pondered for a moment before taking out ‘Faith in Brother Spring’

and handing it over to Chu Chuyan. “Honey, drink this.”

“What’s that?” Wary about the bottle of suspicious liquid, Chu Chuyan was

a little hesitant to drink what Zu An was offering her.

“This is recovery medicine. Don’t worry, it has no poison and side effects,

and it’ll send you back to full health right away!”

Zu An was a little reluctant to bring it out and this was the only bottle he

had left, so it was basically taking away his only bonus life left.

However, he knew that the crux of whether they could survive this ordeal

lay with Chu Chuyan. He was clearly insufficient to deal with a fifth rank

cultivator at the moment, not to mention that there was a bunch of fourth

rank and third rank cultivators around too.

As long as Chu Chuyan could recover back to full power, she should be

able to deal with the threat right before them. Besides, she was his wife too,

so it was not like he was giving such a precious treasure away to an

outsider.

Chu Chuyan stared at Zu An quietly for a moment before finally nodding.

“Very well.”

Then, she downed the content inside the bottle in a single gulp.

Frankly speaking, what she was doing here was incredibly risky, and it was

far beyond her comfort zone. As the daughter of a ducal clan, there were

constantly plenty of people out for her life. On top of that, her beautiful

appearance attracted the lust of the men around her, leaving her with no

choice but to be constantly wary of her surroundings.

From a young age, she was taught to never accept food from others and

never allow her drinking water to be out of her sight. Due to such an

upbringing, she had been able to keep herself safe thus far.

Her reflexive reaction if anyone were to offer her a bottle of unidentified

fluid was to ignore it. If the person offering the bottle to her was someone

of special standing, making it impolite for her to turn that person down right

away, she would accept it with a smile, but she wouldn’t really drink it.

But for some reason, after looking into Zu An’s eyes, she actually broke the

own rule she had set for herself.

Is it because he’s my husband? Is it because I sensed sincerity in his eyes?

Or is it because of the look of reluctance on his face?

Even she had no idea what was going through her mind either when she

chug down the drink.

That being said, she didn’t bear much hope for his ‘recovery medicine’.

After all, given Zu An’s background and strength, it was unimaginable for

him to bring out anything decent.

But all of a sudden, she felt a warm surge of energy gushing through her

body into her limbs. The dull pain coming from her injuries and the chaotic

ki raging in her body began to alleviate swiftly.

“What medicine did you give me? How could it be so potent?” asked Chu

Chuyan in astonishment.

“It’s the medicine my teacher gave me back then. It’s said to be able to

revive even a dead corpse. How is it? Are your injuries fully recovered

now?” asked Zu An.

Previously, when Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru grilled him about his

background, he claimed that a mysterious man had taught him how to

cultivate. It would make perfect sense for him to push this matter over to his

‘teacher’ too, or else Chu Chuyan would start suspecting him once again.

“Your teacher must be a formidable person,” remarked Chu Chuyan. “Even

though I haven’t fully recovered yet, my injuries should have healed by

around 60 to 70 percent. I’ve never seen such an incredible recovery

medicine before!”

Even a recovery medicine concocted by someone of Ji Dengtu’s caliber

would require some time in order for it to take effect, but this medicine was

actually able to heal a person instantaneously. If sold in the market, its value

would be immeasurable!

“Of course! Your husband is an amazing man, after all!” replied Zu An

gleefully. Then, he suddenly noticed something that she said and frowned.

“Wait a moment, you said that your injuries only recovered by 60 to 70

percent?”

“Yes, it recovered by that amount instantaneously. Isn’t that good enough? I

was still having trouble trying to hold on earlier, but my condition is good

enough to put up a fight now.” Chu Chuyan was more than satisfied with

the results, so she couldn’t understand why Zu An had a discontented look

on his face.

Of course it isn’t enough! I was able to recover my wounds instantaneously

the last time I drank it, so why is it different for Chuyan? Could it be that

the effect of the items from the system is discounted for others?

No, that doesn’t make sense though. The items should either work or not

work at all; there shouldn’t be any reason why the effect is discounted.

Wait a moment!

Zu An suddenly remembered that the ‘Faith in Brother Spring’ had a

parenthesis behind labeled S. Could this mean that it only heals lower-

ranked cultivators to full health, but its effects are less effective on higher-

rank cultivators?

His years of gaming experience in his previous life helped him to swiftly

figure out the truth. Chu Chuyan’s cultivation rank was much higher than

his, so even if he could recover to full health, that didn’t mean that she

would be able to do the same too.

“Argh, it hurts!” exclaimed Shi Kun.

No matter how strong his willpower was, the pain arising from childbirth

was not something a human could endure. Once he started crying out, he

couldn’t stop anymore. Screams of misery escaped from his mouth,

shocking everyone present.

“Young master, what’s wrong?”

The lackeys panicked, unable to comprehend what was happening to Shi

Kun. They couldn’t see any injuries on him, so why was he suffering so

much?

Shi Kung’s face had distorted from sheer pain, such that he couldn’t even

speak a word at all.

Qiao Xueying glanced at Zu An fearfully. There was no way she couldn’t

tell that Shi Kun was suffering from the same symptoms as she did back

then. She had thought that it could have been just as coincidence as it was

unthinkable to her how it could have been Zu An’s doing, but it turned out

to be really the case!

Zu An reined in his thought and shouted, “Quick, kill them!”

“Alright!” Chu Chuyan had no idea why Shi Kun would suddenly be in

such great pain, but an opportunity had finally presented itself.

So, she immediately charged over to Shi Kun’s side. Despite her incredibly

fast movement, her motions remained pleasingly graceful, reminiscent of a

true fairy.

Qiao Xueying’s face paled. She raised her hand and channeled the vines on

the floor toward Chu Chuyan in hopes of stopping her.

In response, Chu Chuyan calmly swung her sword and tapped it lightly on

the vines coming her way. Those vines that had been touched by her sword

were immediately cloaked in a layer of frost, falling heavily back to the

ground and losing their ability to move.

Qiao Xueying hurriedly took out a bottle of medicine and threw it over to

one of the lackeys, saying, “Quick, feed this to the young master!”

Zu An was alarmed. He had no idea what that medicine was, but it would

cause a variable if Shi Kun were to eat it. So, he immediately made a move

and charged forth as well.

He was determined to take down Shi Kun while the latter was down!

Chapter 154: Divine Beast

Devouring Kun

However, Shi Kun’s lackeys were already prepared to deal with Zu An. The

stronger four of the five lackeys stepped forward to stop Zu An whereas the

weakest hurried over to feed Shi Kun the medicine.

They had witnessed Zu An’s elusive movement skill and swift swordplay,

so they dared not to let down their guard. They swung their weapons before

them to create a defensive arc, aiming not to bring down Zu An but just to

keep him at bay.

Zu An tried to charge forth numerous times, but he was forced to retreat

before them. These four lackeys were stronger than him in terms of

cultivation ranks, so it was hard for him to bypass them in a forceful charge.

By then, the weakest subordinate had already reached Shi Kun and was

offering him the pill. Shi Kun was dripping tears and snot around the place

from the sheer pain. If someone told him that eating shit could alleviate his

suffering, he would probably do so without any hesitation.

He swallowed the pill without any hesitation, and a moment later, his pain

really began to alleviate. While it didn’t disappear entirely, it had receded to

a level where he could still barely tolerate it.

“Why would you have a pill like this?” Shi Kun’s face was drenched in

sweat, such that his hair was sticking to his face. He looked at Qiao

Xueying with appreciation in his eyes.

Qiao Xueying glanced at Zu An with a slightly reddened face as she

answered, “I suffered the same plight back then too, so I prepared some

medicine in the off case the same thing happens once more.”

The previous encounter had really traumatized her, and being unaware of

the cause of it only scared her more. So, she requested some Pain

Suppression Heart Calming Pills from Divine Physician Ji in the off case

that it happened to her once more. Who could have thought that it would

really be put to good use here?

Zu An was dumbfounded. He didn’t think that this trump card of his was

overcome so easily!

Why is my luck so bad today? Goddamnit!

I wasted 100,000 silver taels on ‘Befriend a Rich Man’ for naught, and

‘Faith in Brother Spring’ wasn’t as useful as I thought. And now, I’ve

wasted a precious use of ‘Knock-You-Up Eyes’ too.

He had used so many of his trump cards, but they still weren’t out of danger

yet. This was really a huge loss to him!

Since Shi Kun had already recovered, Zu An dared not to push too much

anymore. He quickly retreated to Chu Chuyan’s side, and the battle between

Chu Chuyan and Qiao Xueying came to a halt too.

“Well done!” said Shi Kun. His face was still pale and he couldn’t stop

clutching his stomach, but he was in a much better condition now.

“Brother Shit, congratulations on being the very first man in the Great Zhou

Dynasty to have a taste of pregnancy and labor pain. Don’t you feel more

appreciative of the sacrifices your mother had to make for you now? Don’t

you think that you’ll be a far more filial son now?” said Zu An.

What was done was done. He would just have to make it back by squeezing

more Rage points out of Shi Kun.

“You were the one who did it earlier?” Shi Kun growled lividly. “Wait a

moment, what do you mean by pregnancy?”

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +233 Rage!

“Isn’t it obvious? The pain you suffered earlier was a symptom of labor

pain. Actually, I’m quite curious as to where it would hurt for you. After all,

you shouldn’t have a womb as a man, right?” asked Zu An.

“…” Shi Kun.

It turns out that he really is the culprit here. Just thinking about the hellish

experience he had just gone through made rage rush into his head.

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +1024 Rage!

Qiao Xueying was astonished too. It really is pregnancy! Wait a minute,

doesn’t this mean that I was knocked up by that hateful Zu An? Her face

immediately flushed red.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +1024 Rage!

“I’ll kill you!” Veins popped out on Shi Kun’s temples as he gathered his

wind blades once more.

Instead of stepping away, Zu An took a step forward and said, “Oh? You

want to have a taste of pregnancy again?”

Those words immediately jotted up the intense spasms of pain that

assaulted him earlier, and he began shuddering uncontrollably. The wind

blades around him dispersed right away as he muttered with a hint of fear,

“H-how did you do it?!”

Zu An smiled. “Well, this skill is called ‘Knock-You-Up Eyes’. All it takes

is one glance from me, and that person will be able to enjoy the joys of

childbirth. Does any of you want to give it a try too?”

Wherever Zu An’s gaze fell on, that person would instinctively take a step

back. Be it Shi Kun or his lackeys, no one had any interest in suffering the

pain of childbirth.

Even Qiao Xueying was frightened too. She was probably the only one who

could empathize with Shi Kun as she had been through the same unbearable

pain too.

“Rubbish! How could there be such… an eccentric skill in the world!” Shi

Kun couldn’t stop his voice from quivering. Without a doubt, he was

already scarred for life.

“Didn’t you already try it out yourself? Would you like to try it once more

to see if I’m lying or not?” Zu An took another step forward.

Once again, Shi Kun and his lackeys retreated a step as they waved their

hands frantically.

“If there’s nothing else, we’ll be taking our leave then.” Zu An grabbed Chu

Chuyan’s hand. “Honey, let’s go.”

Chu Chuyan was still dazed even up to this point. Everything that had

happened so far had transcended her common sense.

Is it really possible for there to be a skill in the world that makes one

pregnant just by looking at them? Doesn’t that mean that he can make me

pregnant whenever he wants to?

Those thoughts made Chu Chuyan’s face heat up.

All of a sudden, she raised her hand and formed an ice barrier right behind

the two of them. Innumerable wind blades crashed onto the ice barrier the

next instant.

Zu An quickly turned around, only to see that Shi Kun and his lackeys were

chasing after them.

“Hahaha, I nearly got scared off by you!” Shi Kun sneered in disdain.

Zu An’s faced darkened. “It looks like you really want another taste of

pregnancy, huh? You better pray that you have enough medicine for

everyone there then!”

Those words made Shi Kun’s lackeys recoil in fear. If all of them were to

fall under the ‘Knock-You-Up Eyes’ skill, the ones prioritized for the

medicine would definitely be Shi Kun and Qiao Xueying. As for the rest of

them… it was likely that they would have to suffer through the full course

of the skill.

Shi Kun harrumphed coldly. “Don’t be intimidated by him! How could

there be a skill in the world that could induce pregnancy? Even if there is,

he definitely has to pay a heavy price for it. Otherwise, given his vindictive

personality, how could he possibly let us off? He could have just ended all

of us with a glance instead of talking so much!”

Zu An was stunned. He realized that he had underestimated Shi Kun all this

while. He should have known that a person who could reach his position at

that age was bound to be no fool.

He could use the ‘Knock-You-Up Eyes’ again, but there were too many

people here, and they had painkillers on them too. It was likely that his skill

would just go to waste once more. He would be much better reserving this

skill to use on someone else in the future.

Chu Chuyan pulled Zu An behind her and glared at Shi Kun coldly, “We

haven’t finished our earlier battle. Let’s continue then!”

“Your aura… Why do you seem unharmed?!” Shi Kun’s eyes widened in

shock.

The earlier clash had proved that he wasn’t a match for Chu Chuyan in a

direct confrontation, not to mention that his limbs were still weak from the

extreme pain he just suffered from the ‘Knock-You-Up Eyes’. In his current

condition, he wouldn’t stand a chance against her at all.

Someone quickly explained to Shi Kun how Zu An had fed her a bottle of

medicine, which led to Shi Kun staring at Zu An deeply. “I must admit, I

have made a grave error thinking that you were an insignificant good-for-

nothing. With all of the means you have displayed here today, there’s more

reason for me to eliminate you for good here!”

The more outstanding Zu An was, the higher chances of him winning Chu

Chuyan’s body and soul over. Besides, even if not for Chu Chuyan, it was a

threat in itself to make an enemy out of a talented individual who possessed

a myriad of means. The wisest move was to stifle Zu An while he was

weak, or else he would surely pose a great threat in the future.

“Aren’t you being too confident here?” remarked Chu Chuyan with a

frown.

She had recovered greatly from her injuries whereas Shi Kun was in a

weakened state at the moment. Even if he combined forces with Qiao

Xueying here, she was confident that she could deal with them.

As for the others, given the powerful movement skill that Zu An had

demonstrated earlier, he should be able to hold his own against them until

her battle came to an end. Overall, they should have been in an

advantageous position here, so she couldn’t understand why Shi Kun was

making such confident remarks here.

“Indeed, it would be hard for me to defeat you in my current condition. Had

it been any other situation, I would have offered a truce.” Shi Kun paused

for a moment as he glanced at Zu An. “However, that fellow is a huge

variable. I’ll have to get rid of him here regardless of the cost!

“Heed my summons, Devouring Kun!”

Shi Kun raised his ring up high as he muttered an esoteric chant. His ring

began to glow with a grayish light as a terrifying pressure crushed down

from above.

All of his lackeys immediately fell to their knees under the pressure, unable

to move at all. A green barrier formed around Qiao Xueying, allowing her

to barely hold on.

Zu An wasn’t faring any much better either. The sudden outburst of

pressure made it hard for him to breathe, as if a mountain was crushing

down on his back. His bones began to creak under the force.

If even fourth rank cultivators were finding it hard to hold on, how well

could a third rank cultivator possibly stand against it? It was just that he

gritted his teeth and tried his best to hold on here. He didn’t mind mooching

off others, but he wouldn’t allow himself to kneel before Shi Kun.

It was just that willpower could only do so much against absolute strength.

Just as he was about to cave in, he felt a cooling touch wrapping around his

hand, and the pressure on him suddenly alleviated.

A blue barrier was erected around them. Chu Chuyan had activated her

Blue Guardian once more.

It was daytime, but the sky suddenly darkened. Zu An raised his head, only

to be appalled by what he was seeing.

A massive beast of over three hundred meters in length had floated into

appearance in the air. It was grayish in color, reminiscent of a massive

whale. However, its appearance was far more frightening than any whales.

There was a blood-red light glaring from its eyes, and it had a massive

mouth filled with innumerable sharp teeth. Its appearance looked more than

enough to intimidate any lifeform into submission.

Looking at the whiskers curling down from its mouth, Zu An frowned

doubtfully. Why does this look like the kun[1] I’ve seen in game ads in my

previous life?

“This aura… Ninth rank?!” Chu Chuyan’s face paled. “No, its aura is at

ninth rank, but its strength is much weaker.”

But no matter how much weaker the summoned beast was, it was still far

beyond her means to deal with.

A gleeful smile emerged on Shi Kun’s face as he said, “This is the means

our Shi clan possesses. It’s a defensive tool that my clan has specially

prepared for me, and I was reserving it only for dire situations. Zu An, you

should be glad that you’re going to die in the hands of Divine Beast

Devouring Kun…”

However, Zu An interrupted him before he could finish his words, “Wait a

moment, you said that this beast is called Devouring (Shi) Kun too? Ah, it

actually has the same name as you! Is it your father?”

1. Kun is a mythological fishlike monster which is known to be able to

transform into a roc in the air.

Chapter 155: Absolute Zero

“…” Shi Kun.

Before Shi Kun pointed it out, he hadn’t noticed that his name and

Devouring (Shi) Kun were actually homonyms. However, even if the

Devouring Kun was a divine beast, it was still a beast. By asking if it was

his father, the other party was insinuating that he was a beast too!

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +885 Rage!

The other lackeys also stared at Zu An in astonishment. Wow, he dares to

further rile up the young master even when he’s already in such a situation.

He’s really going to die a terrible death later on.

Qiao Xueying was also surprised by Zu An as well. The latter might be

hateful, but even she had to admit that he had guts. If she had been in his

position, she wouldn’t even dare to breathe out loud in the presence of such

a powerful beast. Yet, Zu An was still able to maintain his composure. It

was truly hard to tell whether he was feigning courage or that he really was

that brazen!

“Talking tough even when you’re already on the verge of death, huh? You’ll

soon regret having been born with that mouth of yours!” Shi Kun snapped.

“Who dares to summon me?”

A voice suddenly boomed out of nowhere. It was from the massive the

Devouring Kun above, and shockingly, it was actually speaking human

speech!

“O’ great divine beast Devouring Kun, I, offspring of the Shi clan, beseech

for your help in eliminating my enemy!” Ever since Zu An pointed out that

their names were homonyms of one another, he couldn’t help but feel

incredibly awkward calling out the divine beast’s name.

“Let me see just how powerful your enemy is that you were willing to use

up your final chance to summon me!” The Devouring Kun directed its

blood-red eyes toward Chu Chuyan and Zu An, then it bellowed furiously.

“Audacious! How dare you summon me for a mere sixth rank and third

rank ants!”

“Sixth rank!” Shi Kun turned to Chu Chuyan in shock.

She has already reached the sixth rank! It’s no wonder why I’m no match

for her. This woman sure hid her true ability well! If not for the fact that she

has sustained severe injuries, I wouldn’t have stood a chance against her at

all!

Qiao Xueying was dumbstruck too. Despite being by Chu Chuyan’s side for

so many years, she actually didn’t know that she had already made a

breakthrough to the sixth rank. Did it happen recently?

Zu An remarked in awe, “Honey, you’re more amazing than I thought!”

Chu Chuyan sighed deeply and said, “I improved too quickly that I

compromised my foundation for it. The battle with Wu Di ended up leaving

me a trauma. I wouldn’t have rushed things if I knew that things would turn

out this way.”

Trauma? Did Faith in Brother Spring not cure her trauma?

Zu An was perplexed, but he knew better than to enquire about it before so

many people.

Shi Kun looked to the massive divine beast above and said, “Those two

might not be of high cultivation rank, but their defeat is of utmost

importance to me. I beseech you to curb the young lady for me, but please

do not harm her life. As for this man, do as you please to him, just leave a

breath in him for me to deal with him afterward.”

He was afraid that the Devouring Kun would go overboard and take Chu

Chuyan’s life. So, he made sure to remind the latter carefully. As long as he

could get it done with Chu Chuyan and make her his, it would be worth

expending the final use of the Devouring Kun here.

As for Zu An, he had a weird movement skill and all sorts of bizarre skills,

making him an extremely tricky opponent to deal with. So, he wanted the

Devouring Kun to render him powerless so that he could slowly torture him

afterward.

The Devouring Kun snorted coldly, causing a slight storm to stir in the sky.

“You humans carry such depraved thoughts. Forget it! I’ve promised three

favors to the ancestors of your Shi clan for the graciousness they have

shown me, and this is the final favor. With this, my soul will finally be able

to rest.”

As a divine beast who had lived for innumerable years, it could see through

Shi Kun’s thoughts with a glance.

Chu Chuyan stared at the massive beast in the sky intently as she finally

figured out the reason between the dissonance in its aura and its true

strength. It turns out that it’s just the manifestation of its soul, not its true

body. That makes perfect sense. In the first place, there’s no way a storage

ring large enough to store such a massive lifeform!

“Ah Zu, run away,” whispered Chu Chuyan in a hushed voice.

Zu An shook his head and said, “I can’t leave you all alone in such a critical

situation. If we must die here, we’ll die together.”

“What’s the point of dying together?” Chu Chuyan frowned. “If you live

through this ordeal, you’ll at least be able to inform my father and have him

take vengeance on the Shi clan on my behalf.”

“Then you should leave then. I’ll help you hold them here!” said Zu An.

Even though he didn’t mind mooching, he couldn’t leave his wife to the

lurch in such a precarious situation.

“How are you going to hold them here?” Chu Chuyan was getting agitated

by Zu An’s obstinancy. Not wanting to waste time with him here, she

pushed him lightly, and Zu An was immediately ‘tossed’ several li away.(1

li = 0.5 kilometers)

Shi Kun and the others were astonished by her sudden action. They

immediately tried to give chase, but a blue barrier suddenly appeared before

them, blocking their path.

“Lord Devouring Kun!” Shi Kun raised his head and exclaimed.

The massive divine beast in the sky shook its body. Despite its bulky

physique, it was able to move with astonishing alacrity. Before anyone

present could even see it, its tail had already struck squarely on the blue

barrier.

‘Blue Guardian’ was able to withstand the barrage of wind blades from Shi

Kun earlier, but it shattered instantaneously under the force of the

Devouring Kun’s strike, dissipating into thin air.

Pu!

Chu Chuyan spurted out a mouthful of blood as she was sent flying through

the air helplessly.

“Lord Devouring Kun, don’t hurt her!” exclaimed Shi Kun. If Chu Chuyan

were to die or lose a limb here, all of the effort he had put in over this

period of time would have been in vain.

The massive head of the Devouring Kun turned to him as a ferocious glint

flashed across its red eyes. “Are you teaching me how to do things here?”

“I dare not to!” Shi Kun quickly lowered his head as he subconsciously

retreated several steps. Even though he was the one to summon the divine

beast, he wasn’t certain whether it would attack him if he got on its nerves.

“Don’t worry, I’ll curb her and leave her for you to deal with,” said the

Devouring Kun. “Even though our race differs, I’ve to admit that this

woman does have a beautiful appearance. If not for the fact that I’ve

already lost my body, I might even be unwilling to leave her to you.”

Shi Kun was rendered speechless. So what if you have a real body? Even a

single strand of hair from you is wider than Chu Chuyan’s waist. What can

you possibly do to her?

However, he soon remembered that some divine beasts gain the power to

transmogrify into humans upon reaching a certain cultivation rank. The

thought of the Devouring Kun getting steamy with Chu Chuyan ruined his

mood right away.

Shit, this really annoys me. Why does it have to be such a perverted kun?

By this point, Chu Chuyan had already stood back up. She wiped off the

bloodstains from her mouth and uttered coldly, “I might be defeated, but I

won’t be humiliated. You’ve forced me.”

In the sky, the Devouring Kun burst into laughter. “So what if I forced you?

Lass, your strength is nowhere in comparison to mine. Struggle all you

want, but it’ll be in vain. Just surrender! Young master Shi will treasure you

well.”

“Hmph!” Chu Chuyan’s face turned cold as she slowly rose into the air.

Shi Kun and the others widened their eyes in disbelief.

While cultivators were able to leap across the air upon reaching the fourth

rank, only ninth rank cultivators possessed the ability to truly fly in the air.

This was common sense in this world.

But what was with the sight before them then? Chu Chuyan was definitely

not a ninth rank cultivator, so how could she rise up in the air in such a

manner?

“Hm?” The Devouring Kun was also taken aback by the situation before it

too. It reassessed the lass before it, wanting to see what she was up to.

Chu Chuyan’s hair and dress fluttered freely in the air, accentuating her

slender figure. She emanated off a noble and lofty aura that mesmerized

everyone present, such that even Shi Kun’s lackeys began staring at her

blatantly, not bothering to hide their gazes from Shi Kun.

Only Qiao Xueying caught a whiff of danger here. It was just that her side

had the overwhelming advantage at the moment—there was an

incomparably gigantic kun on their side. She couldn’t understand why she

was feeling a little uneasy on the inside.

“Absolute Freeze!” Chu Chuyan’s voice sounded.

Blue light gushed out from her body, causing the surrounding temperature

to plummet swiftly. Snow began to descend in the surroundings, cloaking

the earth white. Even the sky had turned into an eerie ice-blue color.

Paired with Chu Chuyan’s aesthetics, such a sight was truly pleasing to the

eye. Shi Kun’s lackeys were enchanted. Shi Kun himself also gasped in

wonderment as well. Such a beautiful woman will soon be in my embrace.

Ahh, what bliss!

Qiao Xueying was the only one who retained her rationality. She quickly

grabbed Shi Kun’s robe and pulled him away. The other two fourth rank

cultivators also noticed that there was something amiss with the situation

and hurriedly backed off too.

However, the remaining third rank cultivators reacted slower than the rest,

and it didn’t take long for them to be cloaked in frost. Their movement

grew slower and slower before they eventually turned into an ice sculpture.

The inertia from their earlier movement caused them to fall frontward and

shatter in countless ice fragments. What made it even eerier was that their

bodies were so thoroughly frozen that they didn’t even bleed a droplet of

blood.

Looking at the sight of his shattered subordinates, Shi Kun gulped fearfully.

“T-t-this…”

The prowess Chu Chuyan was exerting was clearly abnormal. This was

definitely far beyond what someone of her cultivation rank was capable of.

“Mere tricks!” Devouring Kun sneered in disdain. It had seen what had

happened on the ground, but it didn’t think that it posed a threat to him at

all. How could those weak ants even be placed in the same category as it?

It felt that it was beneath it to even dodge an attack of this caliber, so it

stood still in the spot. It didn’t believe that Chu Chuyan had the means to

freeze its three hundred meters long body.

It’s nothing more than a breeze to me.

However, its carelessness soon took its toll on it. Its eyes widened when it

realized that its body was really freezing over, and it exclaimed with a hint

of fear in its voice, “No, that’s not right. This is… absolute zero!”

It immediately swished its tail and tried to escape from this ice domain, but

it was already too late. Its massive body was already completely covered in

frost, and its flames of life had started to extinguish.

“This is impossible! How could a cultivator as weak as you possibly know

such a profound forbidden art?” The Devouring Kun howled in disbelief as

it desperately tried to flee. However, as a manifested soul, it no longer

commanded the great strength it did at its peak. It couldn’t stop the frost

from engulfing it.

“Stop! Someone of your rank can’t possibly sustain this forbidden art!

You’ll die! Even if you survive by chance, all of your ki meridians would be

destroyed as a result of this! Stop right now!”

Its initial lackadaisical, teasing voice transformed into horror and fury

before finally weakening into desperate pleas.

However, nothing it said was able to faze Chu Chuyan at all. She continued

channeling the forbidden art with an impassive look on her face.

Slowly, the degree of the Devouring Kun’s thrashing grew smaller and

smaller as it lost strength. Eventually, when its blood-red eyes were coated

in blue frost as well, its massive body lost its ability to elevate in the air. It

began to plummet to the ground.

Something of such massive size falling to the ground from such a great

height was bound to crash with devastating impact. The Devouring Kun’s

body immediately shattered upon collision, and the shockwave that gushed

outward blew off the forests in the vicinity, producing a mushroom-shaped

cloud in the air.

It was fortunate that the Devouring Kun was only a soul manifestation.

Otherwise, if it had fallen with its real body from such a height, the impact

would be as if the entire dungeon had been struck by a comet.

“It’s finally over…” A miserable smile crept on Chu Chuyan’s face as her

body finally succumbed. She couldn’t sustain her flight anymore and began

falling to the sky.

I guess it isn’t too bad to die like this too. It’s just a pity that Shi Kun ran

too quickly, so I wasn’t able to kill him. I wonder if Ah Zu will be able to

escape from their clutches…

It was then that a nervous voice that sounded incredibly familiar to her

sounded, “Honey!”

Then, she found herself falling right into a warm embrace. She opened her

eyes, and Zu An filled her sight. But his presence hardly brought her any

relief at all; if anything, it only maddened her. “Why didn’t you run away!”

You have successfully trolled Chu Chuyan +520 Rage!

She was already a cripple now, but the threat wasn’t over yet. She failed to

deal with Shi Kun and his lackeys, and there was no doubt that they would

continue coming after him once they return to their senses!

Chapter 156: Lovers' Suicide

“How could I leave my wife and run off on my own?” replied Zu An

grimly.

Looking at Chu Chuyan’s pale face and blood stained dress, he felt a bitter

feeling in his chest. He quickly took out some recovery medicine and fed it

to her. “Quick, eat this. While it isn’t as miraculous as the medicine I gave

you earlier, it’s still medicine concocted by Divine Physician Ji. It’ll do

wonders to your recovery.”

Many of them were given to him by Ji Xiaoxi. Considering how much Ji

Dengtu doted on his daughter, he wouldn’t scrimp on this.

“It’s no use. My ki meridians are already ruined.” Chu Chuyan shook her

head. Her voice was incredibly calm despite her plight, as if she had already

resigned herself to fate.

“Who says that it won’t work! There’s definitely a way out of this! We’ll

look for Divine Physician Ji afterward. I’m sure that he’ll be able to figure

something out!” Zu An insisted vehemently as he stuffed the best medicine

in his possession into Chu Chuyan’s mouth.

As perverted as Ji Dengtu was, his medical skill was the real deal. Besides,

even if he couldn’t do anything about it, surely there would be something in

this huge world of cultivation that would work!

And even if there was nothing in this world that would work, he still had

the Keyboard with him! The items from its lottery might just be able to

create the miracle required to treat her!

“Cough cough~” Chu Chuyan had never been treated so crudely before, and

it made her both embarrassed and agitated. However, she didn’t even have

the strength to move right now, let alone fight against him.

“It looks like you’re on good terms with Ji Xiaoxi.” Chu Chuyan noticed

that the sachets holding the medicine bottles had been embroidered with

flowers, and there was even a faint fragrance coming from them. It was

clearly meticulously prepared by a woman.

“I told you that your husband is popular with women,” Zu An teased.

However, he suddenly recalled that she was already in a bad condition and

that it would be bad to anger her. So, he quickly changed the topic and said,

“We encountered an army of zombies in a valley a while ago. I told her to

escape and seek help while I lure them away, and out of worry, she gave

these to me.”

Chu Chuyan sighed softly and said, “Why are you explaining this to me?”

“I’m just afraid that you’ll be jealous,” replied Zu An sheepishly.

Chu Chuyan didn’t respond to him anymore.

By then, Shi Kun and the others had already turned their sights over. Shi

Kun’s face was so dark that it looked as if it was going to drip ink. “Young

miss Chu, you really do impress me. I didn’t think that you would have

such a powerful move that allows you to even deal with the Devouring

Kun. However, you ended up crippling yourself for that. Was it worth it?”

He viewed Chu Chuyan as his ideal wife and did everything he could to

attain her, only for her to be crippled right before his eyes. There was no

way his clan would allow him to marry a cripple like her.

With her beautiful appearance, even if she had lost her cultivation, he would

still have been more than willing to bring her in as a concubine to serve

him. However, her injuries were so severe that it was unlikely that she

would survive this ordeal.

Years of planning had gone to vain just like that. He had even resorted to

using his greatest trump card, but it all ended up for naught. How could he

possibly not be disappointed?

Qiao Xueying had a complicated look on her face. While she had entered

the Chu clan with ulterior motives, the years she had spent together with

Chu Chuyan had made the two of them as close as sisters. She honestly

hoped that she could marry the young master.

In her view, only the Sixth Young Master of the Shi clan was worthy of

becoming the young miss’ husband. No matter how she looked at Zu An, he

wasn’t worthy of her in any way.

She never thought that Chu Chuyan would rather cripple herself than to

give in to Shi Kun. It made her feel deeply guilty, for she knew that she was

responsible for forcing Chu Chuyan to this point too. She reproached

herself for the decisions she had made.

Meanwhile, Chu Chuyan gazed into the sky despite having heard Shi Kun’s

question. She wasn’t interested in answering him at all.

Zu An noticed that there was hardly any focus in her pupils at all. He

realized that she wasn’t looking at the sky but blanking out. Her heart had

succumbed to despair—she had already given up.

Her body temperature was frighteningly cold. Holding onto her felt like

hugging a piece of ice that had been frozen for over a thousand years,

chilling Zu An down to his bones. If even hugging her was enough to make

him so uncomfortable, it was hard to imagine just how cold she must be

feeling at the moment.

During this short period of time, Zu An had already inspected her body with

his ki. An ordinary person’s ki meridians should have been overflowing

with vitality, but Chu Chuyan’s looked like the aftermath of an explosion. It

was tattered and suffused with an air of desolation.

She was even weaker than an ordinary human in her current condition, let

alone regaining her cultivation. The devastation of her meridians had

crippled her, leaving her body almost paralyzed.

Zu An even suspected that she might have died right away had she not

consumed ‘Faith in Brother Spring’ prior to using the forbidden art.

Shi Kun didn’t seem too displeased even though Chu Chuyan wasn’t

answering his question, Instead, he murmured to himself, “You were the

number one prodigy of Brightmoon City. Even if we look at the entire

world, there are very few of our age who can compete with you. You stood

at such a high and lofty position, only to be reduced to a cripple now. No,

you are even less than a cripple. In your current state, you wouldn’t be able

to tend to your daily life…”

“Shut up! No one will think that you’re mute if you don’t speak!” Zu An

bellowed in frustration. He was already worried about Chu Chuyan’s dying

spirit, and yet Shi Kun still continued running his mouth. Based on his

limited knowledge regarding medicine, he knew that the effectiveness of

any treatment had a huge part to do with the will of the patient.

If the patient had already given up hope, it would really be all hopeless.

“Hmph! Lowly trash like you would never understand the troubles we

prodigies face!” Shi Kun looked at Zu An coldly. “People like us are born

superior to the masses. We have our own pride and dignity, and we won’t

allow ourselves to be looked down upon or pitied. Even if you managed to

save her life, it’d be nothing more than torture to her if she has to live her

life as a cripple.”

“I don’t object to you calling my wife a prodigy, but how is the like of you

considered a prodigy too? You can’t even defeat my wife despite her

injuries, and you had to bring out reinforcement like a loser. That

Devouring Kun was a ninth rank cultivator or something, right? He still got

destroyed by my wife in a single hit. What about you then? What are you

capable of? What rights do you have to be spoken on equal terms with

her?” Zu An was already feeling terrible just by looking at Chu Chuyan’s

state, but this fellow still had to continue buzzing around like a pesky little

fly, challenging the limits of his tolerance.

“…” Shi Kun.

Being told by a good-for-nothing whom he looked down upon that he

wasn’t a prodigy was a humiliation to him. But he was indeed lacking

compared to Chu Chuyan, making him unable to refute Zu An’s words at

all.

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +314 Rage!

What are you acting so smug for? It’s not you who is formidable but Chu

Chuyan!

Shi Kun could only console himself in such a manner. He reminded himself

that it was beneath him to bicker with people of Zu An’s caliber and calmed

his emotions before carrying on, “I might be lacking, but I have a huge clan

behind me. Even at birth, I’m already at a height where you can never hope

to reach no matter how you struggle. I don’t say these words with the

intention to brag; I’m just conveying the truth to you. The resources I have

at my disposal far surpasses yours. It’s unlikely that you’ll ever be able to

treat her no matter how you struggle, but it’s different for me.

“Not only can I preserve her life, but I can reconnect her ki meridians too. If

you truly love her, hand her over to me instead of selfishly keeping her by

your side. You’ll only be stalling her future.”

Qiao Xueying nodded in agreement too. “Indeed, the Shi clan has a lot of

connections in the capital and the physicians in the imperial court. They

also have innumerable treasures at their disposal. Their means definitely far

surpassed what the Chu clan is able to do. If you hand the young miss over

to the Shi clan, the young master would definitely figure out a way to treat

her!”

Seeing that Zu An had fallen into deep thought, a hint of a smile curled on

Shi Kun’s lips. For someone of his position, there was no need to resort to

violence all the time. Sometimes, he could get things done just by appealing

to a person’s morality and utilizing some of the advantages he was blessed

with.

He would try his best to cure Chu Chuyan upon receiving her, but

admittedly, the chances of her making a full recovery were unlikely. That

being said, it should be easy to sustain her life, which meant that he would

be able to keep her as a concubine by his side.

It was just a pity that she wouldn’t be able to move, so he wouldn’t be able

to do a lot of fun stuff with her.

Thinking that Zu An had really been persuaded, Chu Chuyan’s eyes glazed

with fear. She feebly muttered, “D-don’t hand me to anyone else.”

Even though she didn’t like how lackadaisical and boastful Zu An was, at

this very moment, she only felt at ease being by his side. She was afraid that

he would be moved by Shi Kun’s words and hand her over to that

scoundrel.

Zu An directed a smile at her and said, “Honey, what are you saying? How

could I possibly hand you to another man? I was just thinking of another

problem.”

Shi Kun’s face darkened. “Zu An, are you really intending on foiling young

miss Chu’s future over your own selfishness?!”

Zu An rolled his eyes. “Please, I’ve watched far too many dumb

protagonists falling for such tricks on TV that I think that it’s an insult that

you even think that you can fool me with something of this level. You’re

trying to stand at a moral high ground to criticize me just so that you can

conceal those depraved thoughts in your mind. I must really look gullible in

your eyes, huh? I’ll take responsibility for my own wife’s condition. An

outsider like you can scram!”

Shi Kun’s face turned completely cold. “What arrogant words! You can’t

even protect her well, and you still dream of treating her? Young miss Chu,

you might blame me right now, but I’m certain you’ll understand my

intention in the future!”

With a wave of his hand, he ordered his lackeys to kill Zu An. While he

figured that there were some restrictions to the ‘Knock-You-Up Eyes’ skill,

the pain he had suffered earlier was not something he would want to

experience twice. He wasn’t willing to take the risk once more, so he

ordered his lackeys to do the job instead.

Meanwhile, he would just wait patiently for an opportunity to leap in and

end Zu An’s life for good!

“W-wait.” Chu Chuyan spoke up feebly.

Shi Kun’s face lit up in delight. He raised his hand to stop his subordinate

and asked, “Young miss Chu, have you thought things through?”

Ignoring him, Chu Chuyan turned to Zu An and said, “Kill me.”

“???” Zu An was dumbfounded.

It was so abrupt that he was taken off guard.

However, Chu Chuyan got even more anxious upon seeing that Zu An

wasn’t reacting. She quickly added, “I’m already a cripple now, and you

aren’t a match for them. Are you intending to watch as I get humiliated by

another man? You should flee after killing me and inform my parents about

what happened here. Get them to avenge my death. That’s all you can do

for me now.”

Zu An exhaled deeply. He slowly raised his sword up.

Chu Chuyan closed her eyes. A peaceful smile appeared on her face as she

waited for the descent of the sword that would claim her life.

“Zu An, you dare!” bellowed Shi Kun.

Even though Chu Chuyan had spoken softly, he was still able to hear

everything loud and clear. He would rush over to snatch Chu Chuyan over

if he could, but he was afraid that a sudden move from his part would end

up agitating Zu An into making a reckless move.

Zu An ignored him. He pulled his sword downward, but the trajectory

caused his stab himself in the chest instead.

Shi Kun and Qiao Xueying were dumbfounded. They didn’t expect Zu An

to hurt himself. What is that man up to?

Qiao Xueying even wondered if Zu An was trying to commit a lovers’

suicide for Chu Chuyan. Even though he’s hateful, I didn’t think that his

feelings for the young miss would actually run this deep.

Chapter 157: Diving Right Into

Danger

Shi Kun was dumbfounded. Is he committing suicide because he can’t win?

Well, that works in my favor too.

His two fourth rank cultivators also heaved a sigh of relief. To be honest,

they wouldn’t want to face Zu An if they had a choice too. Even though the

latter was a third rank cultivator, he was incredibly tough to deal with, not

to mention those bizarre skills he had up his arse.

In Zu An’s embrace, Chu Chuyan felt droplets of blood splattering on her

body. With disbelief reflected in her eyes, she muttered anxiously, “W-what

are you doing?”

Why is he trying to kill himself instead? Is he trying to do a lovers’ suicide

because he was unable to save me?

Perhaps it was due to the years of bond they had as master and servant, Chu

Chuyan actually had the same thoughts in mind as Qiao Xueying.

A tinge of redness surfaced on Chu Chuyan’s pale face as she said, “You

need not do this. We’re not…”

Before she could finish his words, Zu An had already interjected, “We can

whisper sweet nothings later. For now, let me kill these hateful fellows

first.”

With one hand holding onto Chu Chuyan to keep her body leaned toward

him, Zu An brandished the sword in her other hand and bellowed furiously,

“Have a taste of my forbidden art, Return of the Myriad Swords!”

Everyone was still trying to make sense out of Zu An’s bizarre behavior

when he suddenly shouted out loud, causing the crowd to recoil in fear.

They had just witnessed Chu Chuyan’s forbidden art destroyed the

Devouring Kun in a single strike, so they were particularly sensitive toward

the words ‘forbidden art’ at this very moment.

Considering Zu An’s earlier bizarre behavior and the sudden imposing aura

he was giving off, even Shi Kun instinctively decided to back down for the

time being to assess the situation before deciding what to do next.

While everyone was putting their guard up against Zu An, the latter tossed

his sword aside, picked up Chu Chuyan, and fled.

“???” Shi Kun.

“???” Qiao Xueying.

“???” The two fourth rank lackeys.

Everyone was stunned for a brief moment before it finally dawned on them

that they had fallen from Zu An’s feint. The latter was just trying to

intimidate them so as to buy some time for his escape! Knowing that they

had fallen for such a cheap trick made the crowd tremble in fury.

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +666 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Fourth Rank Lackey A for +233 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Fourth Rank Lackey B for +233 Rage!

Qiao Xueying looked at Zu An fleeing silhouette with a complicated look

on her face. She couldn't give a damn about Zu An’s life and death, but she

couldn’t help but be worried for Chu Chuyan. On one hand, she was

relieved that the young miss managed to get away, but on the other, she was

worried that Zu An didn’t have the ability to treat her. This plunged her into

a state of dilemma.

“Chase them!”

The infuriated Shi Kun ordered with a roar before darting forward nimbly.

As a wind element cultivator, his speed was significantly enhanced as

compared to his peers. Given the disparity in their cultivation ranks, as well

as the fact that Zu An was holding onto a person in his arm, he should have

been able to catch up with Zu An in just a few seconds. Yet, to his

bewilderment, he had only managed to close the gap slightly even after

chasing for quite a while.

Chu Chuyan was initially perplexed by Zu An’s act of self-harm, but when

he fled with her in his arms, she immediately understood what was going

on. For a moment there, she found herself admiring his sharp wits.

However, no matter what kind of ingenious plan he came up with, the

disparity in their cultivation ranks made it impossible for him to turn the

tables on Shi Kun.

“Let me down. You might still be able to get away if you escape alone.”

“Shut up! How can I leave you to the lurch?” replied Zu An grimly.

Under the effects of the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra, as long as he accumulated a

certain degree of damage, his ki would go into a berserk mode, causing a

significant enhancement in his strength and speed.

It was using this trump card that he managed to curb Pei Mianman and Qiao

Xueying back then, though he understood that these two women had gone

easy on him out of other considerations. They were probably afraid of

alerting the experts of the Chu clan, so they opted for a physical brawl

instead, which allowed him to stand his own against them.

If they had used their elemental powers, they would surely have been able

to defeat a low level cultivator like him with ease.

Now that they were in the dungeon, there was no reason for Shi Kun and

Qiao Xueying to hold back anything against him. While Zu An was in a

strengthened state from the effects of the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra, he knew

that he wouldn’t be a match for them.

He chose to harm himself and trigger the effects of the Phoenix Nirvana

Sutra not to raise his fighting prowess but to enhance his speed for escape.

That was also why Shi Kun hadn’t been able to chase up with him thus far.

“We won’t be able to get away,” remarked Chu Chuyan with a deep sigh.

She didn’t know what kind of secret art Zu An had used in order to increase

his speed, but Shi Kun was a fifth rank wind element cultivator. The

difference in fundamental speed between them was as clear as day. It was

only a matter of time before Zu An got caught.

“There’s a place where there might still be a glimmer of hope,” said Zu An

as he gazed at the small hill not too far away.

He hadn’t been just blindly running away and hoping for the best. All this

while, he was thinking about what he could do in order to get out of this

quandary, but none of his skills and trump cards were working at all.

Furthermore, it didn’t seem like reinforcement was coming, or else the

massive commotion earlier on would have already drawn someone over. He

figured that it might be due to the terrifying emergence of the Devouring

Kun that everyone was choosing to keep their distance.

Given so, there was only one way out—dive right into the depths of danger

to create an opportunity.

He had witnessed with his own eyes those terrifying zombies marching into

the hill, but Shi Kun’s group lacked that information. If he lured them there,

he might just be able to find a way out of it.

Of course, he understood how frightening the zombie army was. The odds

were likely that he and Chu Chuyan would die in their hands too, but doing

nothing at all guaranteed certain death too. At least they still stood a

glimmer of hope over with the zombies. Besides, it didn’t sound like too

bad of a deal if he could pull his enemies down to the grave together with

him.

Welp, I guess humans buy lottery for a reason. As long as they luck out,

everything would be smooth-sailing. I mean, what’s a life without dreams?

By then, the pursuers behind them were already pressing closer. Shi Kun’s

teasing voice sounded, “Hah! Run as fast as you can; I sure would like to

see where you intend to run to! The moment you run out of ki is the

moment of your death!”

He had made sure to keep tabs of the whereabouts of the academy’s

teachers before confronting Zu An and Chu Chuyan, so he knew that

everyone else was a far distance away from them at the moment. They

wouldn’t be able to get here any time soon whereas all he needed was five

minutes in order to catch up with Zu An.

“Snow, stop him!” Seeing that there was a forest ahead, Shi Kun bellowed.

Qiao Xueying hesitated, but she eventually still waved her wrists, and the

trees before Zu An seemed to come immediately to life. All sorts of vines

began darting toward his leg, attempting to trip him over.

Zu An had fallen for this trick once and learned from his previous lesson.

He immediately executed Sunflower Phantasm to the limits and dodged

everything coming his way.

For some reason, he felt that there were more openings in the assault of the

vines than the previous time.

Shi Kun’s face darkened. Naturally, he could tell that Qiao Xueying was

intentionally going easy on the two of them, but at this juncture, he chose

not to say anything about it.

Wind God Dash!

Shi Kun’s legs began moving so quickly that they turned into a blur, raising

his movement speed by a great deal. This movement skill was extremely

harsh in terms of ki depletion, so he would avoid using it unless the

situation necessitated it.

Hearing the ‘whoosh’ behind him, Zu An knew right away that Shi Kun

was going to attempt something. So, he sidestepped in an attempt to dodge

the attack, but it was too late. Shi Kun’s sword had already struck his back.

“Hm?”

Shi Kun expected his sword to plunge right through Zu An’s chest, but

instead, he felt a huge counterforce pushing back the tip of his sword. It was

then that he realized that Zu An was wearing an armor underneath!

He would have never thought that this poor bloke would actually have such

a powerful armor, resulting in his attack which should have been enough to

penetrate Zu An’s chest to barely sink in by an inch. By the time he

attempted to increase the force, Zu An had already run off.

Shi Kun harrumphed coldly. I’ve already caught up with you. Where else

do you think you can escape to?

Under the buff of Wind God Dash, his speed was at least 20% faster than

Zu An. On top of that, the other party was holding onto a person in his

embrace and didn’t have a sword anymore. If he couldn’t even take down

Zu An with such an overwhelming advantage on his side, he would really

be utterly inept!

Shi Kun directed his sword toward Zu An’s legs, thinking that it would be

an easy fight once he severed the latter’s tendons and crippled him.

However, Zu An abruptly flung his sleeves backward, and a shadow

suddenly shot out from his wrist area.

Shi Kun could tell right away that it was a hidden crossbow. He

remembered one of his lackeys having such a weapon. However, he didn’t

think much of it as such weapons crossbows could only pose a threat

toward low ranked cultivators. For a high level cultivator like him, the

arrows wouldn’t even penetrate his ki armor.

So, he continued pushing his sword ahead, completely disregarding the

arrow shot in his direction.

But just as his sword was about to pierce into Zu An’s leg, his body

suddenly jolted. To his bewilderment, the arrow had actually pierced

through his ki armor to sink into his shoulder. While the soft armor he was

wearing had mostly cushioned the impact, limiting the injuries he sustained,

he could feel a bizarre chill seeping into his wounds and spreading all over

his body, causing him to shudder uncontrollably.

“What is this? Is the arrow laced with poison?” Shi Kun was shocked. He

hurriedly drove his ki in order to drive off the coldness.

At the same time, Zu An abruptly turned around and attacked Shi Kun too.

There was a pitch-black dagger in his grasp.

“Young master, be careful!” Qiao Xueying had experienced the prowess of

the dagger herself, so she immediately shouted out a warning.

Shi Kun had suffered a bit from complacently thinking that he could use his

ki to block the enemy’s arrow, so he wisely chose to face Zu An’s dagger

directly this time around. He tossed aside his sword decisively and

generated several wind blades to strike at Zu An.

The abrupt wind blades struck Zu An squarely, causing him to spurt blood.

The strike had sustained significant injuries to him. On top of that, the

obstruction of the wind blades closed up the temporary opening Shi Kun

had revealed, giving the latter more than enough time to dodge his

incoming attack.

Seeing this, Zu An could only sigh helplessly and back away,.

The hidden crossbow was a weapon he had obtained from Jia Zhengjing’s

group, but he replaced the normal arrows with the armor-piercing arrows he

had obtained from the zombie army.

It was fortunate that the mechanism of the hidden crossbow was rather

simple. All Zu An had to do was to trim down the length of the armor-

piercing arrow and slot them into the crossbow for it to work. Thanks to it,

he managed to catch Shi Kun off guard for a moment there.

But it was a pity that he didn’t manage to kill him in the end.

Zu An noticed that Qiao Xueying and the other two fourth rank cultivators

were about to catch up, so he quickly turned around and continued fleeing.

Meanwhile, Shi Kun stopped momentarily on the spot to consume a recover

medicine and expel the chilling aura that had seeped into his body with his

ki. Then, he extracted the arrow from his chest and examined it with a

frown. “Just what kind of arrow is this? How could it be this formidable?”

This wasn’t the time for him to be brooding too much over such matter. Zu

An had already gotten a lead on him, so he quickly ordered his lackeys to

continue the chase.

Eventually, Zu An finally arrived at the stone doors at the foot of the

mysterious hill. Seeing that Shi Kun and the others were still hot on his

heel, he gritted his teeth and began walking toward the stone doors.

Chu Chuyan had remained in his embrace throughout the chase. From

where she was, she could clearly see his blood-soaked clothes and hear his

furiously thumping heart and his erratic breathing. Slowly, her eyes that

were previously clouded in despair began filling with something else.

Born with great talents, she had always been the tall figure who protected

others under her wing. Yet, in a twist of fate, she found herself helplessly in

the arms of a man who was desperately doing everything he could to save

her. He could have run off by himself, but he refused to let go of her, a

baggage who was dragging him down.

“Fool…”

Chu Chuyan silently murmured her evaluation of him before slowly closing

his eyes.

Zu An was oblivious to the thoughts of the beauty in his arms. He ran over

to the stone doors worriedly, fearing that he wouldn’t be able to open it.

However, perhaps it was because the effect of the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra

had significantly enhanced his strength, this time, he was actually able to

open a small crack that was enough for a person to slip in.

The pitch-black cavern that lay before him screamed of untold dangers. Zu

An clenched his fists tightly before heading into the darkness.

…

Not too long later, Shi Kun and the others finally arrived before the stone

doors too. They could feel the chilling air coming from the cracks of the

slightly ajar doors, and their eyes flickered in hesitation and trepidation.

“What’s this place?”

“Hmph! If even Zu An can enter this place, is there any reason why we

can’t? Chase him!” With a grand wave of his hand, he took the lead and

charged right in.

He had lost far too much today that he couldn’t give up at this juncture.

Chapter 158: We Might Not Have

Been Born In the Same Quilt, But

We Shall Die in the Same Grave

When Zu An walked through the stone doors with Chu Chuyan in his

embrace, he was surprised to see that the interior of the cavern wasn’t as

dark as he expected.

There was faint grayish light providing some illumination behind the stone

doors, making the surroundings look slightly ashen. It looked a little like

the smoke drifting from small villages, just that this smoke depicted not of

life but death.

An eerie wind blew over, causing Zu An’s goosebumps to rise up. The

surroundings had an inexplicable atmosphere that made him feel incredibly

uncomfortable. At the same moment, he was starting to feel a little weak

from having lost too much blood.

All of these observations made him realize that the environment in this

cavern wasn’t friendly to living beings. In the context of a game, it would

be something like a death aura that constantly gnawed away at one’s health

points. While the effects weren’t too pronounced on cultivators, this could

be fatal for Chu Chuyan, who was already in a weakened state.

So, Zu An quickly stuffed a couple of medicine into Chu Chuyan’s mouth

and ate some himself too. It was only then that the feeling of discomfort

finally alleviated a little.

He was relieved that he had found quite some recovery pills from Jia

Zhengjing and the other assassins. Together with the medicine that Ji Xiaoxi

had given to him prior to their separation, they should be able to hold on in

here for a while at least.

Chu Chuyan had never been treated so brashly by a man before, but she

knew that he was doing it for her sake, so she didn’t lose her temper. Still,

she simply couldn’t get used to it. To turn her focus away from her

awkwardness, she asked, “What’s this place?”

She realized that Zu An’s earlier escape wasn’t aimless; he had a destination

in mind right from the start.

“This is the cavern of the zombie army. I reckon that it’s a mausoleum…”

Zu An quickly filled her in about what he had seen at the valley earlier on.

“The den of the zombie army…” Chu Chuyan’s eyes widened in shock.

“Aren’t you courting death by running in here?!”

She had already resigned herself to her death, so it didn’t matter where she

was. However, she couldn’t stand the idea of Zu An putting himself into

danger for her sake.

“Instead of succumbing to Shi Kun outside, we might as well take a gamble

here. Perhaps, if we shake things up enough, heaven might just take pity on

us and show us a way out.” Zu An’s tone was casual, but his nerves were all

strung up, ready to react as soon as any danger surfaced.

Chu Chuyan sighed deeply and said, “You didn’t have to force yourself to

save me. You could have escaped all alone, but you leaped deeper into the

abyss instead.”

“It doesn’t seem that bad to die together and become a pair of lovebirds.”

Zu An chuckled. “Even if we aren’t born in the same quilt, we should die in

the same grave as a couple.”

Chu Chuyan’s pale face blushed a little. “Pui. You’re thinking of taking

advantage of me even at a time like this.”

“What can I do? I’m afraid that there wouldn’t be any chance to say these

words in the future.” Zu An noticed that Chu Chuyan’s eyes were half-

closed, as if she would fall into a deep sleep at any moment. In order to

pique her spirit, he was doing everything he could to attract her attention.

“If we do get out of this alive, won’t you consider living in the same room

as me?” asked Zu An with a cheeky smile.

“Even at a time like this, you still are in a mood to talk about such stuff?”

remarked Chu Chuyan.

“It’s even more so during times of trouble that we need something to look

forward to. This darned place is really terrifyingly scary.”

While Zu An chatted, he was scanning the area carefully while proceeding

forward. Due to the gray fog lingering in the surroundings, his vision was

limited. Nevertheless, he could still tell that they were currently walking

through an extremely long passageway.

This passageway was inclined downward, which meant that they were

heading underground. Perhaps they were heading to the depths of hell itself.

The walls along the passageway were dry and smooth on touch. There were

all sorts of marks on them, which on careful examination, appeared to be

murals. It depicted the scene of a gruesome battlefield.

However, Chu Chuyan didn’t pay any heed to all of this. She was brooding

about what Zu An said before replying feebly, “Why are you so insistent

about living together with me? You’re already…”

Her words trailed off halfway, perhaps not wanting to hurt Zu An’s feelings.

Zu An burst into laughter and said, “You’re my wife after all. It doesn’t

make sense for newlyweds to sleep in separate rooms, no? As for my

physical condition, you need not worry about it. I have already consulted

Divine Physician Ji about it, and all that’s lacking is just the main

ingredient. Once I get my hand on it, I’ll be able to treat my affliction, and

we’ll be a pair of blissful couple.”

Chu Chuyan’s face reddened. She instinctively disregarded the final

sentence and asked, “You’re referring to the Evanescent Lotus?”

“Indeed. Who knows? I might just find it here,” replied Zu An.

Chu Chuyan fell silent. A place that was creeping with an air of

malevolence like here couldn’t possibly give birth to a treasure like the

Evanescent Lotus.

However, with the despairing situation they were already in, she didn’t want

to destroy his confidence. So, she replied, “Alright. If we ever get out of

this situation safely, you can move into the same room as me.”

She was well aware of her condition. It was unlikely that she would be able

to walk out of the dungeon alive, so she didn’t mind satisfying him a little

before her death.

“Really?” Zu An was overjoyed. He never expected to hear such a response

from Chu Chuyan.

Chu Chuyan was just about to reply when she suddenly caught sight of

something. “What… is that?”

Zu An also raised his head to take a look, only to realize that the

passageway was far taller than he had expected. The ceiling was thirty

meters high, and there were countless rubies embedded in it, emanating a

faint red glow.

“T-this…” Zu An was unable to see it clearly due to the concealment of the

fog. However, a sudden slight breeze dispersed the fog slightly, granting

him a much clearer view of the things that were on the ceiling. They

weren’t rubies at all but the eyes of countless bats!

These bats were larger than any other Zu An had ever seen before, each

spanning the size of a bathtub. Their sinister appearances and sharp fangs

were more than indicative of their vile nature.

“Be careful, those are Vampiric Boar Bats! They are known to be able to

suck the blood of a cattle dry within seconds!” Chu Chuyan warned Zu An

anxiously.

Even though she had already resigned herself to fate, she was still innately

disgusted by such creatures.

Making a quick estimation based on the number of red eyes on the ceiling,

there had to be at least a thousand of these Vampiric Boar Bats above them.

Zu An gulped. If all of them were to swipe down on them at once, the two

of them would be instantaneously reduced to dry corpses.

Isn’t this place the base of the zombie army? Why would there be vampiric

bats here too?

All of a sudden, the hibernating bats began to move. They seemed to have

caught a whiff of blood in the air. As more and more of them woke up, Zu

An realized that things were going to get troublesome.

One must know that both he and Chu Chuyan were coated in fresh blood at

the moment. They must have looked truly delectable in the eyes of those

vampiric bats at this very moment.

It was then that a peal of hearty laughter sounded behind, “Hahaha! Looks

like I’ve finally caught up to you!”

Shi Kun and the others were around ten meters away from them at the

moment, and he was staring at them with a cold sneer sitting on his lips. He

had already summoned dozens of wind blades around him, ready to end Zu

An’s life at any moment.

Zu An knew that it would be hard for him to deal with Shi Kun in his

current condition, so he decisively shot an arrow toward the ceiling before

hurriedly diving to the ground with Chu Chuyan.

The bats were still rousing from their sleep when the great reverberation

from the sudden arrow agitated them, causing them to spread their wings

and swipe downward right away.

“What are those?!”

Shi Kun was horrified to see a wave of black lifeforms swooping in his

direction. He instinctively shot out the wind blades around him to stop

them.

Bursts of blood exploded in the air as ten of the vampiric bats were

immediately reduced to shreds. Unfortunately, such a course of action was

no different from poking a hornet’s nest. All of the surrounding bats

immediately identified Shi Kun as their enemies and charged toward him.

Shi Kun’s face paled. He quickly channeled his ki to summon even more

wind blades around him so as to fend against the onslaught of the bats. At

the same time, Qiao Xueying also anxiously summoned a swirl of green

leaves around her so as to fend off the aggressors.

As for the two remaining fourth rank cultivators, they also did everything

they could to hack down the vampiric bats heading in their direction.

However, there were simply too many of them, and every single one of

them was fairly strong.

One of the fourth rank cultivators made a slip-up and ended up getting his

defenses breached by a vampiric bat. It immediately bit down on his neck

and began sucking.

A miserable cry sounded. He anxiously tried to pull the bat away from his

neck, but in an attempt to do so, he ended up forsaking all defense. As a

result, even more bats swooped down and began sucking his blood.

His miserable cries didn’t last long, for his tall and brawny body dried up at

a visible pace. It took just a few seconds before he was reduced to just a

mere corpse.

Shi Kun was enraged and horrified. Knowing that the danger these bats

posed, he dared not to hold back anymore. He immediately summoned a

tornado filled with wind blades to massacre all of the massive bats around

him.

Qiao Xueying’s face also turned frosty. She began flicking the green leaves

outward like sharp daggers, sniping down the massive bats one by one. At

the same time, the little ponytail on her head began to grow, extending into

countless vines filled with green thorns. These vines lashed through the bats

mercilessly, smacking them down.

The remaining bats swiftly realized that they had picked on someone

beyond their means and hurriedly escaped the area, leaving behind just a

couple of carcasses lying around.

Despite this, Qiao Xueying didn’t retract her hair right away. Looking at the

bloodied bat carcasses hanging on the tree vines extending from her hair,

she disdainfully raised her sword and chopped it off. In just a few moments,

however, her hair grew back to its original length.

On the other hand, Shi Kun took a look around, but Zu An and Chu Chuyan

were no longer anywhere to be seen. By this point, it was apparent that they

had been done in by them, and he flew into a state of rage. “Bastard Zu An!

Even if I have to chase you through the gateways of hell, I’ll mince you into

pieces!”

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +999 Rage!

“Young master, this place feels sinister. I have an ominous feeling about

this. Why don’t we retreat first and reassess the situation?” asked Qiao

Xueying.

Shi Kun harrumphed coldly and said, “Are you getting worried about your

young miss now? Did you think that I didn’t notice that you went easy on

them earlier on? Whose fault do you think it is that they were able to get

here in the first place?”

“I…” Qiao Xueying felt a little indignant. She was earnestly saying those

words out of worry for Shi Kun. As a wood element cultivator, she was able

to sense the life force lingering around her, but this place exerted a strange

pressure on her that made her unable to exert her ki smoothly. It felt like

there was some sort of terrifying existence lurking in here.

Shi Kun belatedly realized that he had already lost a lot of his subordinates,

and it would be unwise for him to fall out with Qiao Xueying at this point

in time. So, he mellowed his tone and said, “Snow, I was a little too agitated

so my words turned out harsher than I thought. Don’t take them to heart.

While this place is a little sinister, it’s just filled with Vampiric Boar Bats

and those sorts of monsters. As long as we keep our guard up, we shouldn’t

face too much trouble. We can’t possibly watch idly while young miss Chu

dies in Zu An’s hands. Let’s quickly find her and get out of here, alright?”

Qiao Xueying nodded. “Yes, young master. It was indeed my fault earlier. I

was too soft.”

Shi Kun laughed heartily and said, “It’s fine. This shows that you’re a

sentimental person who values loyalty. I would have been far more worried

if you were able to bring yourself to be callous to young miss Chu instead.”

Hearing those words, Qiao Xueying, who was conflicted all this while, was

finally able to squeeze out a smile. “Thank you for your understanding,

young master.”

Shi Kun nodded before beckoning her deeper into the passageway.

Chapter 159: Don't Come Here

While Shi Kun and the others were dealing with the Vampiric Boar Bats, Zu

An quickly slipped deeper into the passageway with Chu Chuyan in his

hands.

“I wonder if those bats carry viruses on them,” murmured Zu An worriedly.

There were many bats flying around earlier, and the air was suffused with

their flesh and blood. One must know that bats were known as a vat of

germs and viruses in his previous world; many diseases that plagued

humans had originated from them. Even the great Bear Grylls, a man who

stood at the top of the food chain, had to cook them for several hours before

daring to eat them.

However, such thoughts were swiftly dispelled from Zu An’s mind. We’re

already on the verge of getting killed! Who cares about viruses or germs?

After running for some time, Zu An noticed that he was finally approaching

the end of the passageway and heaved a sigh of relief.

While the passageway was still fairly safe, there was only one road to run

and nowhere to hide. If Shi Kun were to catch up with them in there, they

would be doomed.

Of course, the end of the passageway was likely to be filled with dangers

too, especially the zombie army Zu An encountered previously. So, he was

planning to find a hiding spot and camp there. As long as he didn’t alert the

zombie army, he should stand a fair chance of surviving this ordeal.

His plan was simply to lure Shi Kun sufficiently deep into the cavern,

where he would be utterly obliterated by the zombie army.

He carefully entered the cavern, only to feel two terrifying wind pressure

gushing down toward his head right away. Fortunately, he was prepared and

immediately used Sunflower Phantasm, allowing him to retreat a meter

back right away.

Once he regained his footing, he immediately took a look at his assailants.

They were two ax-wielding zombie soldiers.

The two zombie soldiers were stunned by their missed attacks. They were

certain that their strikes were going to land squarely, so it was unimaginable

to them how their target was able to vanish right before their eyes.

However, after a brief moment of astonishment, they instinctively raised

their axes and began chasing after Zu An.

Zu An shook his head. These two zombie soldiers looked to be at the

second rank at most, so there was no way they could have been a match for

him. It was just that he was reluctant to get into a fight with Chu Chuyan’s

in his arms, so he chose to flee instead. In any case, his speed was faster

than the two of them anyway, so there was nothing to worry about.

But unexpectedly, their chase alarmed some of the other soldiers, leading to

more and more people getting on Zu An’s tail, as if a deadly snake game.

Soon, there were more than twenty soldiers chasing after him.

Seeing this, Zu An frowned. He was starting to get a little pressured now,

knowing that he couldn’t continue like that. At this rate, it wouldn’t take

long for the zombies to fully encircle and corner them.

So, while escaping their attacks with his movement skill, he began scanning

the area for places to hide. To his dismay, even though the area was far wide

than the passageway, there were no hiding spots around. The cavern was

practically empty.

“Your movement skill is really incredible,” remarked Chu Chuyan.

She saw how Zu An was able to maneuver around the zombies without

getting struck at all, reminiscent of a butterfly weaving around a field of

flowers. This was not her first time seeing Zu An’s movement skill, but for

some reason, it seemed much more formidable than before.

As a prodigious cultivator, she was naturally interested in his movement

skill too.

He really has done well concealing his true skills. It’s no wonder why Shi

Kun and his lackeys end up suffering a lot under his hands. He really is…

scheming.

“It was imparted to me by my teacher. It’s my trump card to survive

dangerous situations.” Zu An was planning to attribute everything that he

couldn’t explain to his teacher.

“Your teacher is an incredible person. I can’t figure out its crux even when

watching it up close,” said Chu Chuyan.

She might have lost her cultivation, but her eyes were still working

perfectly. She had been paying attention to Zu An’s movement skill all this

while, but to her astonishment, she was still unable to make sense of it.

“He’s indeed an incredible man.” Thinking of the unfathomably powerful

Old Mi, Zu An nodded in agreement as well.

“What about that skill of yours which… makes other pregnant?” This was

the one thing that Chu Chuyan was the most curious about. She had seen

with her own eyes just how much Shi Kun suffered from it earlier on, and

she couldn’t imagine how there could be such a skill in the world. At least

Zu An’s ingenious movement skill was still within the boundaries of

common sense, but that skill sounded nothing but illogical to her.

Now that she thought about it, it was weird how Snow failed to assassinate

him in the Chu Estate back then. Everyone was baffled back then to hear

that a fifth rank cultivator had suddenly suffered from a stomachache and

ended up failing her mission, but looking at it retrospectively, Zu An must

have used this skill against her.

Snow must have been enraged to have such an embarrassing skill used on

her…

“It’s not real pregnancy; the skill just simulates the feeling of childbirth.

However, there’s a hefty price to pay for using it too, so there’s a limit to

how many times I can use it. Otherwise, I’d have made that bastard faint

from the pain!” Zu An suddenly changed his tone at this point and said,

“Honey, if you’re interested, there’s actually no need for me to use the skill

at all. We can do it for real.”

Chu Chuyan was rendered speechless. It was as if he had to tease her every

few words he spoke. However, having known one another for quite some

time, she had gotten used to him running his mouth that it couldn’t faze her

as much anymore. “Earlier, your speed and strength increased significantly

after you got injured. Was it a skill you learned from your teacher too?”

“Yup. The cultivation technique I’m learning is rather peculiar.” Zu An

thought about how Old Mi had been hiding amidst the Chu Estate all this

while, as if a dangerous power was after his life. This made him realize that

the skills he was learning could potentially bring about danger, so he wasn’t

sure if he should tell Chu Chuyan about the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra or not as

it could risk implicating her too.

Fortunately, Chu Chuyan didn’t probe deeper into it. One’s cultivation

techniques and skills were considered a secret in this world as revealing

them were no different from exposing one’s openings to another. Her

questions earlier were a little overboard, but she simply couldn’t resist her

curiosity, especially since she was already on the verge of death.

She didn’t think that Zu An would answer her question earnestly. Is he not

guarded against me at all?

Zu An looked at Chu Chuyan and fell into deep thought once more. Afraid

that she would fall asleep, he tried searching for a topic to engage her, but

the warning bells in his mind suddenly blared then. He immediately darted

aside instinctively.

Pu!

A sharp spear landed on the spot where he was standing earlier.

Zu An noticed that there were nine zombie soldiers armed with spears

standing not too far away. In terms of physique and equipment, these

zombie spearmen were clearly of a higher position than those zombie

axemen.

Those zombie spearmen orderly placed their shields and spears in front of

them before marching a step by a step toward Zu An, closing the distance

between them. Their orderly footsteps and imposing vibes made Zu An feel

as if he was faced with an entire army.

This wasn’t good for Zu An. The formation of the zombie spearmen was

much more organized, leaving no room for him to weave around with

Sunflower Phantasm. As a result, he could only continuously back down.

Soon, he could already see the wall of the cavern behind him. He knew that

if he backed any further, it would really be the end of him. So, he waited for

an opportunity to dash forward to leap above their heads. This was the only

way out that he could see here.

But while he was in the midst of jumping past them, three of the zombie

spearmen leaped up into the air and thrust their spears from multiple angles

toward Zu An.

“*&%*[email protected](“ Zu An.

What the hell! These zombies are actually able to jump so nimbly too?!

The earlier clumsy zombie axemen had left him with a mistaken impression

of the zombie soldiers as a whole, which led to him underestimating what

the zombie spearmen were capable of.

Stuck in midair, there was no way for him to dodge. However, he didn’t

give up just like that either. He quickly raised his arm and shot out an arrow

from his hidden crossbow. It struck one of the spearmen in the air squarely.

Under the impact, the spearmen were knocked down to the ground, and

after twitching for a bit, it stopped moving altogether. It looked like the

armor-piercing arrow was indeed extremely effective against these zombies.

At the same time, Zu An also took out Poisonous Prick to deflect one of the

spears heading in his direction, pushing it a few centimeters away to his

side, where another zombie spearman was standing. Then, making use of

this opening, he quickly nicked Poisonous Prick toward one of the zombie

spearmen, causing a loud screeching sound from the dagger scraping

against the bones.

Zu An thought that he could end the life of the spearman with that, but

unexpectedly, the latter remained perfectly fine. It was then that he realized

that these zombies were undead creatures, so the effectiveness of Poisonous

Prick was limited on them.

To make things worse, the spearman retaliated by thrusting his spear toward

Chu Chuyan.

The might of the incoming spear wouldn’t have posed a threat to Chu

Chuyan in the past, but right now, it was more than enough to shatter her

entire body. She sighed deeply before closing her eyes in resignation.

Seeing that Chu Chuyan was going to be struck, Zu An howled furiously as

he forcefully twisted his body midair to take the spear thrust with his own

back.

Pu!

Blood spurted from Zu An’s mouth, but he couldn’t care much about it in

the midst of the battle. He made use of the impact from the stab to bolt out

of the encirclement of the spearmen.

Meanwhile, upon feeling warm fluid dripping on her face, Chu Chuyan

opened her eyes, only to see a trail of blood seeping from Zu An’s mouth.

She was able to figure out what had happened immediately, and her long

eyelashes quivered in disbelief.

“Young miss!”

Numerous vines shot across the air to smash the axemen who were about to

hack their axes down on Zu An and Chu Chuyan.

Zu An turned his head around, only to see that Qiao Xueying had appeared

in the vicinity. Her hair had morphed into vines once more and was

currently pummeling a zombie. Meanwhile, Shi Kun and his other two

fourth rank lackeys were also busy fighting with a group of zombie soldiers.

“What are you looking at? It’s not as if I’m trying to save you!” Noticing

Zu An’s gaze, Qiao Xueying glared at him and harrumphed.

“I know that you’re embarrassed to admit that you care about it. Don’t

worry, I understand.”

“…” Chu Chuyan.

This fellow sure is narcissistic. Also, is he seducing another woman right in

front of me? This feels… weird.

Qiao Xueying noticed Shi Kun shooting a bizarre glance at her upon

hearing Zu An’s words, and it made her both embarrassed and infuriated.

“What nonsense are you spouting? I’ll kill you!”

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +134 Rage!

As she said those words, she sent a vine straight toward Zu An, intending to

tie him down.

However, Zu An was already prepared. With a chuckle, he dodged the vine

easily and escaped. Qiao Xueying immediately tried to pursue him, but a

new group of zombie soldiers charged forth to stop her path.

Shi Kun, on the other hand, was incredibly displeased to see this. It was one

thing for Zu An to be holding onto his dream lover, but to think that he

would dare to flirt with his maid too! He glared at the skeleton axemen

around him and roared furiously, “How dare you block my path? Go to

hell!”

A powerful outburst of wind blades gushed outward, slicing the zombie

axemen into slices. The zombies might be incredibly resilient, but there was

no way they could survive after being sliced into pieces.

However, Shi Kun’s actions caught the attention of the zombie spearmen.

They immediately turned around, directed their spears toward Shi Kun, and

began marching over. These spearmen were much more difficult for Shi

Kun to deal with; even his powerful wind blades only left small marks on

the shields of the spearmen before dissipating.

Watching as the formation of zombie spearmen approached him, Shi Kun’s

complexion darkened. He gathered his strength and swept his sword

outward, releasing a ten meters long ki that sliced all of the shields of the

zombie spearmen into two.

The zombie spearmen looked at the half-shattered shield and let out a

miserable cry.

“Shit, they are calling their companions!” exclaimed Qiao Xueying.

While Shi Kun’s group was plagued with chaos, Zu An decided to head

deeper into the cavern. He was thinking of seeking refuge first till both Shi

Kun and the zombie army wore each other out before slipping past them to

escape the cavern.

Shi Kun immediately noticed Zu An’s escape and tried to give chase. He,

too, didn’t want to stay in this cavern for too long anymore, so he wanted to

quickly secure Chu Chuyan and end Zu An’s life so that he could leave this

place. He wasn’t certain if he could remain safe if Zu An were to venture

any further in.

However, the formation of zombie spearmen stood in his path, so he could

only roared at Zu An furiously. All of a sudden, he noticed that Zu An had

stopped running. The latter’s footsteps halted for a brief moment before he

began retreating. Seeing this, Shi Kun burst into laughter, “Hahaha, what’s

wrong? Why aren’t you running anymore?”

Zu An continued gazing at the depths of the cavern as he retreated. With a

gulp, he asked, “Brother Shit, how many zombie spearmen are you able to

deal with simultaneously?”

Shi Kun was confused by the same question. Then, he heard the sound of

orderly matching echoing from the depths of the cavern. He took a closer

look and saw rows of zombie spearmen marching out from a stone door at

the other end of the cavern.

Shi Kun recoiled in horror, bellowing, “Fuck you, Zu An! Don’t you dare

come over here!”

Chapter 160: I'm the One Suffering

the Brunt of the Impact!

With a look of absolute horror, Shi Kun bellowed at Zu An ferociously.

But of course, there was no way Zu An was going to listen to Shi Kun. With

Chu Chuyan in his arms, he ran right toward where Shi Kun was.

Looking at the zombie spearmen trailing behind him, Shi Kun felt like

something was exploding in his mind. Not once had he ever hated a single

person in his life so much as he did at this moment.

The situation didn’t allow him any respite to wallow in his emotions

though. He hurriedly utilized all of his means possible to fend against the

zombie spearmen and escape, otherwise he would be swamped very soon.

“Young master, be careful!”

Qiao Xueying directed some of her vines toward Shi Kun to block some of

the zombie spearmen charging toward him. The wood element’s ability

seemed to be advantageous toward the undead, possibly because of its life

attribute.

As powerful as Shi Kun’s Tempestuous Blades were, there was no flesh or

blood for him to shed off from the bodies of the zombie spearmen, not to

mention that they were wielding shields. As a result, he found himself in a

helpless position.

If I’m struggling against them too, given how weak Zu An is, he should be

dead by now, right?

At this point, he couldn’t care less whether Zu An was dead or not; his

focus was on Chu Chuyan. He quickly scanned his surroundings, only to

widen his eyes in the next moment. He saw Zu An weaving around the

zombie spearmen in a blur, waiting for opportunities to land a strike.

Amazingly, every strike he dealt would end with the death of a zombie

spearmen.

“That doesn’t make sense! His strength and speed are only at most a match

for me!” Shi Kun was bewildered. He had tasted the defensive prowess of

the zombie spearmen personally, and they were definitely not the kind of

mobs where one could kill in a single spear thrust.

Wait a moment, spear?

Shi Kun suddenly noticed that Zu An was wielding a spear identical to

those of the zombie spearmen. It seemed like he had just picked it up from

the floor. A thought surfaced in his mind, and he immediately hollered to

his other two companions, “Use the zombie’s weapons! They can curb

them!”

Right after saying those words, he immediately picked up one of the spears

fallen on the ground and started brandishing it. Despite his lacking

proficiency with the spear, he found that the zombies’ movement speed

would be slowed by at least half if he landed a blow, thus relieving the

pressure on him.

Who could have thought that their spear would actually wield such great

prowess!

Shi Kun considered bringing a batch of these spears out. It might just be

some sort of incredibly powerful weapon!

Qiao Xueying and the other fourth rank cultivators quickly followed suit.

They grabbed a spear each and began fighting back. It looked like they

would be able to hold on for the time being.

While Zu An had lured most of the zombie spearmen over to Shi Kun’s

side, there were still five who were still insisting on chasing him.

“Let me down,” said Chu Chuyan feebly.

Zu An shook his head, refusing to let her go.

Chu Chuyan sighed helplessly and explained, “It won’t be easy for you to

deal with so many zombie spearmen while holding onto me. You can put

me down by the corner first and fight them off. Once you’re done, you can

just… just pick me up and leave.”

“Ah, I misunderstood your words.” Zu An chuckled softly. He gently

placed her down by the corner of the cavern while standing guard in front

of her. Then, he turned around and charged toward the five zombie

spearmen.

He exerted Sunflower Phantasm to its very limits, stabbing the spear in his

hand toward them. However, due to his lacking proficiency in spear, he

found it hard to circumvent the zombie spearmen’s shields to strike their

bodies.

“Time your attacks carefully to the moment they strike,” reminded Chu

Chuyan.

She had already resigned herself to fate, but she didn’t want to see Zu An

dying for her here. As the number prodigy of Brightmoon City, her combat

sense and experience far surpassed that of the current Zu An.

Zu An nodded. He flitted amidst the zombie spearmen, baiting their attacks.

He waited until the moment one of them lowered their shields slightly to

thrust their spear forward to swiftly push his own spear through, striking it

squarely in the chest.

Using the same trick, he struck another one of the zombie spearmen

squarely in the chest, killing it on the spot. However, while his spear was

still lodged inside its body, one of its allies suddenly charged forward to

grab the other end of his spear, attempting to pull it off his hand.

“Let go!” bellowed Zu An as he attempted to retract the spear forcefully.

The zombie spearman lurched forward from the sudden tug, but it still

insisted on holding the weapon. Just like that, the two of them started a

ludicrous tug-o-war match in the midst of the sinister battlefield.

It was then that the other two zombie spearmen also flanked him from the

sides and attempted to take him down while his hands were busy.

Just as it looked like Zu An was going to fall under their coordination, he

suddenly raised his arm and shot an arrow right into the head of the zombie

spearman tugging on his spear.

“…” Zombie spearman.

What happened to sportsmanship?! It’s supposed to be a proper battle, so

how can you resort to hidden weapons?

You have successfully trolled Zombie Spearman for +6 +6 +6…

Zu An was amused to see that. He didn’t think that these zombie soldiers

would possess sentience. It was just a pity that they didn’t seem too smart,

or else the amount of Rage points he could earn would have been greater.

But again, if they were really smart, he would probably face much greater

difficulty dealing with them.

While his mind was wandering a little, his body hadn’t stopped moving at

all. After shooting down the zombie spearman before him, he swiftly

retracted his spear and stabbed it into the bodies of the remaining two

zombie spearmen by his sides in quick succession.

After eliminating the five zombie spearmen, Zu An delightfully turned his

head around to report his success to Chu Chuyan, only to be nearly scared

out of his wits.

Three zombie axemen had already arrived by her side, and they were

already in the midst of hacking their axes down on her. Despite so, Chu

Chuyan simply looked on with a peaceful expression on her face, not

making the slightest noise at all.

Zu An immediately threw the spear in his hand forward with a javelin and

killed one of the zombie axemen. Then, he raised his hidden crossbow and

shot the other one down.

As for the last one, he drove Sunflower Phantasm to its very limits, and just

in the nick of time, he managed to block off the ax at the very last moment.

He then quickly picked up one of the spears lying around and ended the

zombie axeman’s life.

After it was all done, he quickly checked Chu Chuyan’s condition carefully

as he exclaimed, “Are you injured? Why didn’t you ask for help?!”

“You were in a dangerous position earlier too. I didn’t want to distract you.

Besides, I’m already a goner. It makes no difference whether I die right now

or a little later.” Chu Chuyan’s face slowly reddened as she quickly added,

“Also, can you stop touching me?”

Zu An scratched his head sheepishly as he quickly retracted his hand. “I’m

checking if you’re injured. I’m not trying to taking advantage of you.”

Chu Chuyan replied with a nod before falling silent.

Meanwhile, the other zombie spearmen had seen the tragic plight of its

comrades over at Zu An’s side and quickly charged toward him. With a

rough estimation, there should be at least thirty to forty of them.

A deep furrow immediately formed on Chu Chuyan’s face. “Hurry up and

let me down!”

“That won’t do. I’m unable to keep so many of them at bay simultaneously.

If I leave you here, you’ll die without a doubt!” Zu An shook his head.

After how Chu Chuyan refused to speak up despite being in imminent

danger, he knew that he couldn’t leave her alone anymore.

He quickly picked up her body before charging right into the midst of the

zombie spearmen. He had to take the preemptive move here, or else things

would get troublesome once they finished creating an encirclement around

him.

His movements were unpredictable, and he was swiftly getting more and

more adept at using the spear together with his Sunflower Phantasm. Quite

a few zombie spearmen were struck squarely by him and fell dead even

before they could even react.

“You can only use one hand holding onto me, and it’ll affect your speed and

form too. You can’t use a spear properly with just one hand. On top of that,

you’re also hastening the rate of depletion of your ki too. At this rate, you’ll

really die!” said Chu Chuyan anxiously.

“Don’t worry, didn’t you say that vermins live for centuries? I won’t die

that easily!” said Zu An. “I’m glad that my wife isn’t a pig, or else it won’t

be as easy for me to fight with you in my arm.”

Chu Chuyan grumbled coyly, “You’re the one who is a pig.”

Seeing that Zu An had already made up his mind, she chose not to say

anything lest she distracted him. Nevertheless, there was still a worried

furrow persisting on her forehead. It wouldn’t be easy for him to deal with

so many zombie spearmen simultaneously even in his peak state, let alone

now that he was handicapped with her.

A while later, however, Chu Chuyan realized that she had still been

underestimating Zu An’s strength. Even while holding onto her, he was still

able to move elusively, and every strike of his spear was able to effectively

claim the life of a zombie spearman.

In fact, in terms of strength and speed, he was already on par with her in her

peak condition. Factoring in his powerful movement skill too, if she didn’t

resort to her elemental powers, it was likely that she wouldn’t be a match

for him.

After consecutively killing 23 zombie spearmen, Zu An’s speed began to

slow down. His exertion was starting to take a toll on him, evidenced by his

heavy breathing. Holding a person in one hand and brandishing a spear in

the other was definitely a tiring act, such that Zu An’s right arm was aching

terribly, almost to the point of numbness.

To make things worse, the more he killed the zombie spearmen, the more

attention he attracted from the others. More and more of them were

forsaking Shi Kun’s side to charge at him.

Damn it! Are zombies attracted to my charm too?

“Brother Shit, you always talk as if you’re the greatest in the world, so why

aren’t you pulling your weight right now? All of your zombies are coming

my way now!” cursed Zu An.

Shi Kun immediately cursed back without bothering to put on his usual

pretense, “Bloody hell! We were the ones who were controlling the bulk of

the zombies earlier, giving you an easy time. Stop grumbling and do your

part!”

He was clearly the one who was receiving the brunt of the blow here, and

yet, the one who was holding onto his beloved goddess still dared to claim

the greatest credit here and complain about it. This made Shi Kun feel

incredibly stifled.

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +999 Rage!

On the other hand, Zu An had no spare attention to check the inflow of

Rage points anymore. He tightened his left hand, pulling Chu Chuyan

closer to him, and he continued brandishing his spear at those zombie

spearmen.

Unfortunately, both his speed and strength had clearly fallen greatly. Barely

after he killed a zombie spearman and was going to retract his spear, one of

its allies immediately thrust its spear toward Chu Chuyan. Clearly, they had

realized that Chu Chuyan was his greatest weakness right now.

Zu An gritted his teeth as he twisted his body and took the blow for Chu

Chuyan.

Puchi!

The spear plunged into Zu An’s flesh, leaving his consciousness flickering

for an instant. He was already in a weakened state at the start, and this

attack nearly took him down for good.

“Ah Zu!” Chu Chuyan cried out anxiously.

Zu An squeezed out a smile and replied, “It’s almost like I’m putting my

life on the line to court you. Have you considered betrothing yourself to me

in reciprocation?”

Chapter 161: Superficial Brothers

“How could you be in the mood to joke despite being in such a situation?”

exclaimed Chu Chuyan.

Zu An dodged an attack coming from one of the zombie spearmen as he

replied, “Since I’m already injured, shouldn’t I at least try to maximize

whatever benefits I have for myself? Otherwise, I would just be getting hurt

for nothing.”

“…” Chu Chuyan.

She was really having difficulties trying to catch up with Zu An’s leap in

logic. Is this what a normal person should be thinking about in a situation

like this?!

Despite Zu An's lackadaisical tone, he was already giving it everything he

got. He hurriedly consumed a Blood Replenishment Pill to heal himself up,

or else he would probably die right away if he were to be struck even once

more.

A warm flow of energy gushed through his body and his limbs. While the

rate of recovery wasn’t instantaneous like ‘Faith in Brother Spring’, it was

still fairly fast by conventional standards. He could feel his injuries slowly

closing up, and his mind felt invigorated once more.

Zu An was earnestly glad that Ji Xiaoxi had teamed up with him earlier on

and given him so many precious medicines from Divine Physician Ji.

Otherwise, he would have already died by now.

In any case, the recovery in stamina gave Zu An the strength he needed to

continue his fight against the zombie spearmen. His arm was still

persistently aching, but he forced himself to turn a blind eye to it and

pushed himself. There were several times where his spear grew dull from

overuse, and he would simply decisively toss away his spear and snatch a

new one from his enemy’s hands.

Through sheer tenacity, he eventually managed to defeat the dozens of

zombie spearmen around him.

Zu An stabbed the current spear he had on hand into the ground and leaned

his body on it in order to remain standing. He was desperately gasping for

air, and his chest was pumping up and down intensely. His face was

reddened, and his hair was drenched in sweat, which dripped down on the

beauty he was holding onto.

Chu Chuyan took a good look at the man who was giving his all to protect

her. She knew deep well that if not for him insistently holding onto her, he

should have been able to escape easily with his formidable movement skill

and speed.

Was this how it felt like to be protected by someone?

Zu An wasn’t exactly strong, but his persevering spirit and tenacity touched

her heart. She had never been protected by a man in such a manner before.

The sweat and blood that had soaked part of her cloak carried the thick

scent of masculinity that made her heartbeat hasten.

Seeing that Zu An was looking at him, Chu Chuyan quickly averted her

gaze.

“It’s fortunate that it was only this much. If there were any more zombie

soldiers, I might not have been able to last until now,” said Zu An.

He immediately regretted raising that flag, for the sound of coordinated

footsteps sounded once more right after he made that remark. He raised his

head to take a look, only to see yet another platoon of zombie soldiers

walking over. This time around, they weren’t equipped with spears but

swords.

Sensing a far greater aura from them than from those zombie spearmen, Shi

Kun’s face turned livid. “Zu An, you really have a foul mouth!”

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +666 Rage!

Zu An was also rendered speechless.

First the zombie axemen, then the zombie spearmen, and now the zombie

swordsmen. The hell, is this Civilization V? Bloody hell!

Zu An cursed under his breath, but he still slowly got to his feet. His hand

was still trembling at the moment, not from fear but from having

overexerted himself earlier on.

“Put me down! You might still stand a chance if you run away now. You

have already saved me many times so far, and I’m earnestly grateful to you.

However, there’s no need for you to persevere. Even if I don’t die in their

hands, I also don’t have much time left to live. You don’t have to give up

your life for me!”

As the two of them were close together, Chu Chuyan could clearly sense his

trembling body. She knew that he had already reached his limit and would

die without a doubt before the assault of these zombie swordsmen.

“Say no more. You’re my wife, so how can I abandon you?” Zu An

revealed a bitter smile. “Of course, if you wish to help me, you’re more

than welcome to give me a kiss. You might just be able to unlock my

hidden potential with that.”

“…” Chu Chuyan.

How can you still act like a ruffian at a time like this?

Zu An still wanted to continue elaborating on this topic, but those zombie

swordsmen weren’t giving him any slack at all. They charged toward him

with their swords in hand, moving at a speed that was a third faster than

those zombie spearmen.

Astonished, Zu An quickly raised his spear to protect himself.

Bam!

The spear and the sword collided with one another heavily. The powerful

rebound from the impact nearly sent his spear flying from his hand.

Astonishingly, the individual prowess of these zombie swordsmen had

actually reached the fourth rank!

Zu An should have been able to overpower them in terms of strength and

speed in his berserk state, but due to his severe injuries and the earlier

prolonged battle, his body was already utterly exhausted and weakened,

which put him in no state to clash directly with these zombie swordsmen.

While he was clashing with the first zombie swordsman, the others flitted

over to launch their attacks too. Zu An hurriedly swept his spear

horizontally and barely managed to fend against their attacks with

difficulty. Unexpectedly, one of the zombie swordsmen suddenly raised his

leg and kicked him squarely in the chest, sending him flying three meters

away.

The impact of the kick left the ki in Zu An’s body in disarray, rendering him

powerless for a moment there. The nearby zombie swordsmen also had no

intention of allowing him to recover either. They quickly charged forward

to hack down on his body.

Zu An thought that it was the end, but a green silhouette suddenly appeared

in front of him. She quickly weaved a massive net made out of vines,

blocking off the swords coming from all around.

Taken aback, Zu An stared at the slender woman standing right before him.

Qiao Xueying glared at him and said, “What are you looking at me for? I’m

not saving you! Anyway, you owe me two lives now!”

Zu An chuckled cheekily and replied, “Yes yes. It looks like there’s no other

choice for me than to repay your magnanimity by betrothing myself to

you.”

Qiao Xueying’s face reddened. While blocking off the attacks from the

surrounding zombie swordsmen, she harrumphed furiously, “One of these

days, I’ll make sure to rip off that stinky mouth of yours!”

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +233 Rage!

“You’ve never had a taste of it before. How do you know whether it’s stinky

or not?” Zu An burst into laughter.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

“…” Chu Chuyan.

Unable to take it anymore, Qiao Xueying snapped, “If you have the strength

to talk, hurry up and get up from there. I can’t hold on much longer!”

The zombies surrounding her and Shi Kun earlier numbered even more than

Zu An’s, so she didn’t have it easy either despite her higher cultivation. It

was true that the life force from her wood element cultivation was able to

curb these zombies to a certain extent, the reverse was true as well. The

deathly aura lingering in this cavern was also suppressing her prowess too.

Due to that, the difficult battle she had earlier had also nearly sapped her

dry. Under the relentless sword slashes coming from all around, her vine

began to slowly wither.

Just as the vines were about to collapse, Zu An suddenly stood up, and his

spear morphed into a blur. In just an instant, he released over a dozen

thrusts, piercing several zombie swordsmen closest to them dead.

“Y-you… How did you…” Qiao Xueying was shocked.

The strength and speed Zu An had exerted in that split moment were greater

than what he had revealed thus far in the entire battle!

Zu An shrugged in response. “Well, I managed to make a breakthrough

while I was fighting.”

One of the reasons why he was caught off guard earlier, other than the fact

that his ki was in disarray, was because he realized that he had made a

breakthrough.

Phoenix Nirvana Sutra allowed him to raise his cultivation by suffering hits,

and he had sustained significant injuries over the course of the battle. The

earlier heavy kick he suffered provided the last few golden specks required

to fill his fourth formation.

The rise of every cultivation step could recover one’s vitality and injuries to

some extent, providing Zu An with the strength needed for him to continue

fighting at least for the moment.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

“…” Chu Chuyan.

“…” Shi Kun.

One must know that even making a breakthrough of a single cultivation

step was incredibly difficult to even for prodigies like them. It was

unthinkable to them that a person could actually make a breakthrough in the

midst of a battle!

To make things worst, Zu An even spoke with a matter-of-fact tone, as if it

was perfectly normal for everyone else. It made it seem like the effort they

had put into advancing their cultivation rank had been in vain.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +211 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +444 Rage!

Looks like my wife is the best after all. She doesn’t get jealous of my rise in

cultivation, unlike the other two. Hmmm? Why didn’t I receive any Rage

points from the other fourth rank cultivator?

Curious, Zu An turned to look over at Shi Kun’s side, only to find that the

only surviving fourth rank cultivator had been pinned on the wall. His body

was filled with glaring wounds, which made it seem like he had been

hacked to death. His eyes were widened large, a sign that he had died with

many grievances.

Why is it that a third rank cultivator is able to hold his ground here whereas

a proud late fourth rank cultivator like me ended up biting the dust?

Goddamnit!

Zu An could roughly fathom the thoughts of the fourth rank cultivator in his

final moments, but he had been too preoccupied with fighting the zombie

soldiers on his side that he couldn’t spare any attention toward the system,

so he didn’t know if the fourth rank cultivator had provided him with any

Rage points.

All of a sudden, Zu An heard the sound of wind whooshing around him.

The zombie swordsmen had begun swarming around him once more.

He quickly activated Sunflower Phantasm and treaded amidst the enemies.

From time to time, whenever he spotted an opening, his spear would dart

forth to launch a surprise attack.

Unfortunately, these zombie swordsmen were far more skilled than the

earlier zombie swordsmen. Most of them were able to react on time to

block his surprise attacks, and he had to trade at least ten blows before he

could end his target’s life.

Shoosh shoosh…

A sharp sound of something piercing through the air sounded. Zu An’s heart

skipped a beat as he raised his gaze to take a look. Just as he had expected,

several arrows were headed from different directions toward him and Chu

Chuyan.

There were around eight archers in the vicinity!

Zu An was able to deflect these arrows with his spear, but he could hardly

feel relieved at all. The worst-case scenario had indeed happened.

He had witnessed the prowess of these zombie archers back in the valley.

While there weren’t too many of them at the moment, their ability to

coordinate with the zombie swordsmen made them a major threat. It would

be nigh impossible to fight the archers and the swordsmen simultaneously.

Zu An’s worries were swiftly proved right.

Every time he was about to kill a zombie swordsman, an arrow would whiz

in his direction, leaving him with no choice but to retract his spear and go

on the defensive. And if he tried to go for the zombie archers first, the

zombie swordsmen would swiftly tie him down with a barrage of attacks.

He had to weave around the zombie swordsmen using Sunflower Phantasm

and use their bodies to hide from the zombie archers. He was still barely

able to hold on for the time being, but now that his movements had become

severely restricted, it had gotten far harder for him to launch counterattacks.

He knew that he would be a goner at this rate. If he lost focus for just a split

moment, he would be either pierced by an arrow or hacked to death.

Otherwise, he would also fall once he ran out of ki.

“Brother Shit, why don’t you come over and lend me hand? We’re on the

same boat now. Why don’t we put aside our grievances so as to tide through

this crisis together?” said Zu An.

He was a little perplexed as to why these arrows were aimed at him but not

at Shi Kun. It was weird how these zombies were specifically coming after

him.

On the other hand, Shi Kun had already noticed the situation over on Zu

An’s side, and he said with a chuckle, “With Brother Zu’s formidable skills,

I believe that dealing with those minions shouldn’t be an issue with you. I

shan’t embarrass myself here.”

Chapter 162: I'm Actually An

Expert

Zu An’s strength frightened Shi Kun. Despite being at the third rank, the

prowess he displayed was not beneath that of a fifth rank cultivator. Other

than the fact that he was unable to tap into elemental powers, he was

effectively no different from a fifth rank cultivator.

On top of that, the earlier ‘recovery’ was completely incomprehensible to

him. Those who could make breakthroughs in the midst of the battles were

truly the prodigies of the prodigies; every single one of them would

eventually leave the mark in history.

Without a doubt, Zu An was a major threat to him which he had to stifle in

the cradle right now!

But at the same time, he was worried about all of those weird skills that Zu

An had displayed thus far, so he was thinking of making use of these

zombies to force them out.

With such thoughts in mind, he said, “Doesn’t Brother Zu have that skill to

make others pregnant? Shouldn’t you be able to get out of this quandary by

using it on these zombies?”

“Did someone slam a door into your head? Just how dumb must you be to

actually think that zombies can get pregnant?” cursed Zu An.

In the first place, these zombies were obviously insensitive to pain, but even

if it worked, he only had one use left of ‘Knock-You-Up Eyes’. Given the

army he was standing before, it would be meaningless even if he used it.

Shi Kun nearly choked after hearing Zu An’s words. Bloody hell. If even a

man can get pregnant, why can’t a zombie do the same?

However, the experience he had with labor pains earlier on was so traumatic

that he didn’t want to talk about it before his goddess and lackey, so he

could only bottle his anger up inside.

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +456 Rage!

Zu An naturally knew that Shi Kun wouldn’t help him, and he was just

intending it as a casual remark. He was trying to think out of the box to see

if there were any means he could resort to in order to resolve the situation

before him. Unfortunately, no matter how he racked his brain, he was

unable to figure out a solution.

These zombies are simply too hard to deal with. If only I have light

elemental magic that novel protagonists usually wield… Hm? Wait a

moment, light?

Zu An suddenly remembered that he had drawn a bizarre flashlight earlier

on. He had no idea what it was used for, but it had the ability to emanate

light in the presence of light. Could its light possibly be effective against the

undead?

It felt like a waste to spend a use of the flashlight to verify his conjecture,

but desperate situations called for desperate measures. He had to try

everything possible.

There’s no use keeping all three uses of the flashlight if I died anyway.

So, the breather he got while weaving amidst the zombie swordsmen, he

stabbed his spear onto the ground and summoned the Magical Flashlight.

It was fortunate that even though he was in the midst of a mausoleum, the

walls of the cavern, for some reason, emanated a faint luminescence. That

was also why he could see his enemies and fend against them for so long.

Not too far away, Shi Kun and Qiao Xueying had been keeping a lookout

on the happenings over on Zu An’s side. When they saw him tossing away

the weapon in his hand, the two of them were shocked.

Shi Kun wondered if Zu An had finally crumbled to the pressure and

decided to give up here.

On the other hand, Qiao Xueying was more worried about Chu Chuyan. As

for Zu An… for some reason, she thought that he was like a persistent

cockroach that continued grasping onto life no matter how dire the situation

was. She had a feeling that he would still be standing even after she passed

away.

Soon, the two of them saw Zu An taking a short stick out of nowhere.

Realizing that he was up to something, they made sure to keep a close eye

out on him. They knew that he was a person with many mysterious means

up his sleeves, so they couldn’t help but wonder if that short stick was his

trump card.

Meanwhile, Zu An was feeling utterly jittery. The zombie swordsmen were

already charging toward him whereas he didn’t have a weapon in hand

anymore. If the Magical Flashlight didn’t work as well as he thought, both

he and Chu Chuyan would be goners today.

With his heart thumping in trepidation, he switched on the flashlight.

Overwhelming light poured forth, nearly blinding Shi Kun and Qiao

Xueying.

While there was some luminescence in the mausoleum, it was barely faint

enough for one to see. When the ‘short stick’ in Zu An’s hand suddenly lit

up, for a moment there, they thought that they were staring at the sun in the

eye.

The zombie swordsmen fared even worse against the light. They let out

miserable screeches as they desperately tried to back away. Those who were

closest to Zu An even began smoking up.

Zu An was delighted. The Magical Flashlight was indeed useful against the

undead! He noticed that the zombie archers in the distance were in the

midst of nocking their arrows, so he quickly aimed the flashlight in their

direction.

No matter how fast an archer’s arrow was, there was no way it could have

been faster than the speed of light. Under the scorching brilliance of the

flashlight, the zombie archers shrieked in horror as they tossed aside their

bows, covered their eyes, and ran away.

Chu Chuyan was baffled by what she was seeing. The scene before her

transcended her common sense. It was one thing for this ‘short stick’ to be

able to light up, but who could have thought that the zombies would be

afraid of its light?

While light did have a curbing effect on zombies, it wasn’t at such an

exaggerated degree.

Delighted by the amazing effect of the torchlight, Zu An delightfully cast

the flashlight on the zombie soldiers all around him, mocking them, “Heh,

why don’t you come here? Weren’t you acting all smug earlier on?”

Where his light shone, the zombies fled. It felt almost like a shepherd dog

herding sheep.

He aimed his flashlight here and there, and soon, the zombie soldiers were

forced to retreat to the two corners.

You have successfully trolled Zombie Axemen for +6 +6 +6…

You have successfully trolled Zombie Spearmen for +6 +6 +6…

You have successfully trolled Zombie Swordsmen for +6 +6 +6…

You have successfully trolled Zombie Archers for +6 +6 +6…

Zu An was overjoyed. These zombie soldiers contributed a small number of

Rage points each, but there was practically an army of them right in front of

him. It all added up to an incredible sum.

Shi Kun was dumbfounded. “What is that in your hand?”

Zu An sighed deeply and said, “Since things have already come to this

point, I shan’t continue my act anymore. I’m actually a light element

cultivator, a hidden expert of this world.”

“…” Chu Chuyan.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

“…” Shi Kun.

To hell with light element! Is there even such an element in the world?

Besides, someone like you actually claims to be an expert? Hell! Who was

the one who was chased around like a headless chicken earlier on?

“Brother Zu, you should have brought that item out earlier!” Shi Kun

wondered if he could snatch that item over. No matter how he looked at it, it

was clearly a powerful artifact.

Zu An shrugged casually. “I forgot about it.”

Due to his shrugging action, the flashlight ended up casting its brilliance on

the zombie soldiers on the right side of the cavern, inducing them to shriek

in pain.

You have successfully trolled the Zombie Soldiers for +6 +6 +6…

Shi Kun was rendered speechless. How the hell can you forget something

like this? Do you know how desperately I’ve been fighting all this while? I

even lost most of my lackeys! Yet, you’re trying to get away just by saying

you forgot about it?

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +999 Rage.

“What can I do? I have too many skills on me that it’s hard for me to keep

track of them all,” replied Zu An with a helpless tone.

“…” Shi Kun.

Listen to what that shithead is saying! Damn it, I really want to sink my fist

into his face!

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +334 Rage!

However, given the current circumstances, he had no choice but to suppress

his fury and squeeze out a smile. “Since that’s the case, may I trouble

Brother Zu to drive the zombies away so that we can explore the depths of

the cavern? I feel that there are great treasures hidden in here. Let’s bury the

hatchet, and I’ll let you have the first pick of whatever we find inside. How

does that sound?”

“Sounds good to me,” replied Zu An.

Chu Chuyan immediately tried to stop him, only to see Zu An herding all of

the zombies toward Shi Kun’s side in the next moment.

Shi Kun’s face warped in horror. “Brother Zu, what do you mean by this?”

“With Brother Shit’s formidable skills, I believe that dealing with those

minions shouldn’t be an issue with you. I shan’t embarrass myself here,”

replied Zu An with a smile.

He returned Shi Kun’s words back to him.

“Alright, I’ll be making a move first.” With Chu Chuyan in his embrace, Zu

An waved his hand and walked away coolly.

“…” Shi Kun.

“…” Zombie soldiers.

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +999 Rage!

Chapter 163: The Mysterious

Woman's Voice

Zu An headed deeper into the cavern with Chu Chuyan in his embrace. Had

it been half an hour ago, if he had a chance to shake off Shi Kun, he would

surely turn tail and leave the mausoleum. After all, the zombie army was a

huge threat to him.

However, after witnessing the ability of the Magical Flashlight to curb the

undead, he changed his mind.

His experience in games and novels told him this creepy mausoleum he was

in had great dangers lurking in here, and rewards and risks came hand-in-

hand. There was a good chance that there were incredible treasures lying in

wait here.

In the first place, his motive was entering the Ursae Dungeon was to secure

the Evanescent Lotus and release his seal. Whether he would live in bliss or

misery for the rest of his life counted on this, so naturally, he wouldn’t give

up this precious treasure hunting opportunity!

Since he had an ace in his hand right now, it would be a waste not to use it

to its fullest potential.

“I wonder how the ‘use’ for this flashlight is calculated by.”

Zu An remembered that the Magical Flashlight could only be used thrice.

Since it had remained lit all this while, did it mean to say that as long as the

light didn’t go out, it would still be considered as one use?

If that was the case, it was truly a relief that this mausoleum had been

emanating a faint light all this while to keep the flashlight powered. Just to

be safe, he even fumbled for an ignitable paper roll he was carrying with

him and kept it in his hand, prepared to light it up in case he ever stumbled

into a completely dark location.

“Honey, did you see Shi Kun’s expression earlier? How in the world did he

find the confidence to ask me to cooperate with him after what he has

done?” Zu An harrumphed. “It’s just a huge pity for Snow. She’s likely

going to die with him there. Will you blame me for that?”

Given how depleted Shi Kun and Qiao Xueying were, it was unlikely that

they would be able to stand their ground against so many zombie soldiers.

“Eyy. Honey, Snow did save us twice earlier. Am I being too heartless

leaving her to the lurch here? Should I turn around and just save her? Heh, I

bet Shi Kun is going to be so angry that he would explode like a volcano.”

Just imagining the situation was enough to bring a smile to Zu An’s face.

“Hm? Honey, why aren’t you saying anything at all?” Zu An suddenly

noticed that something was amiss. He hadn’t heard Chu Chuyan’s voice for

a while now. So, he lowered his head to take a look, only to see the woman

in his embrace had her eyes tightly shut and face ghastly pale. She was

hardly breathing at all anymore.

Ever since she used the forbidden art, her life had already been hanging by

a thread. If not for Zu An feeding her so many of Divine Physician Ji’s

recovery medicine, she would have already breathed her last by now.

But even so, Divine Physician Ji’s medicine only provided her with some

respite; it couldn’t cure her affliction. On top of that, they had been so busy

on the escape that she hadn’t been able to get any rest at all. She was

forcing herself to focus earlier on out of worry for Zu An’s safety, but now

that they were finally out of danger, her tensed nerves finally relaxed, and

she was swiftly consumed by exhaustion.

“Honey!” exclaimed Zu An in a panic.

He might not be a physician, but he could sense Chu Chuyan’s life slowly

slipping away. He quickly took out a bunch of medicine and fed it into her

mouth.

“It’s useless. Her ki meridians have been destroyed. Your medicine cannot

fit the root of her problem,” a feminine voice suddenly sounded. The voice

had a pleasant melodious quality to it, but at the same time, it carried an air

of authority too.

“Who?! Who is the one talking?!” Zu An quickly swept his flashlight

around the cavern, searching for the person who had just spoken to him.

However, he was unable to find anyone at all. A chill suddenly crept down

his spine. Could it be a ghost?

“You need not care who I am. I’ll only ask you one question. Do you wish

to save her?” the feminine voice sounded. The voice seemed to have been

whispered in his ears, but at the same time, it sounded so vague that it could

have been from a far distance away too.

“Of course I do!” replied Zu An.

“Very well. Walk on, and you’ll stumble upon a spirit medicine. Harvest it

and feed it to her, and she’ll be able to preserve her life,” the feminine voice

sounded.

Zu An didn’t get to action right away. Instead, he asked grimly, “How can I

trust your words?”

He knew that there was no such thing as a free lunch in the world. He did

often fantasize himself as the protagonist of the world, but he wasn’t so

naive as to think that a random stranger he met in this mausoleum would

actually help him out of goodwill.

In his view, the owner of the voice sounded more like a demon often

depicted in stories. It was probably trying to lure him into its trap through

temptation.

“You have no other choice but to trust me. There’s no other way for you to

save her,” replied the feminine voice coldly.

Zu An’s heart sank. He knew that the other party was right.

Unless he was lucky enough to stumble onto the other teachers of the

academy and Ji Xiaoxi as soon as he walked out of this mausoleum, and

they happened to have some sort of incredible treasure on them that could

treat Chu Chuyan’s condition… but how could that be possible?

In the first place, if the others had stumbled upon such a precious treasure,

it was unlikely that they would spare it to Chu Chuyan. They had no

obligation to do that. Besides, he had a feeling that not even Ji Dengtu

would be able to treat Chu Chuyan even if he was here, or else Chu Chuyan

wouldn’t have been so despaired.

“Alright, tell me where to go!” Zu An gritted his teeth.

For Chu Chuyan’s sake, he could only march on no matter what kind of

dangers lurked ahead of him.

Judging from how the mysterious voice had spoken with a rude tone earlier

instead of trying to entice him, Zu An reckoned that she wasn’t lying to

him.

Damn it, what’s wrong with me? Why am I more inclined to trust her just

because she was rude to me?

Zu An carried Chu Chuyan’s body and walked in the direction pointed out

by the feminine voice. Somehow, looking at this seemingly endless path

before him, he felt that he was walking right into the mouth of a gigantic

beast. Only the illumination coming from his flashlight was able to calm his

unease a little.

Unlike before, he found himself faced with many divergent paths along the

way, making the road far more complicated than before. He felt that he had

walked into a labyrinth, and it didn’t take him long to lose his sense of

direction.

Had it not been for the feminine voice guiding him along, he would have

been utterly lost.

He did encounter quite a few zombie soldiers along the way, and some of

them were even stronger than the zombie swordsman. However, under the

shine of his Magical Flashlight, the zombie soldiers were forced to run

away from him, as if he was the monster here.

Even the feminine voice couldn’t help but remark, “Looks like it’s the will

of heaven. If not for that mysterious item you have there, you would have

never been able to reach the center of the underground palace with your

strength.”

Zu An made use of this opportunity to strike up an opportunity with that

voice, “Based on what you’re saying, it seems like you have already been

here for quite some time. Are you a human or a… ghost?”

The feminine voice giggled softly. “What do you think?”

The image of a demure woman laughing gently surfaced in Zu An’s head.

“Well, regardless of whether you’re a human or a ghost, you’re bound to be

a very beautiful woman.”

“Beautiful…” The voice suddenly fell silent at this point. There was a long

pause before it sighed in desolation, “What’s the use of being beautiful?”

It was a casual remark, yet it sent Zu An’s body trembling. His heart began

beating nonstop, as if something had triggered his adrenaline. Back when he

watched ‘Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils’, he couldn’t understand why Duan

Yu would be so entranced with Wang Yuyan just by hearing her voice.

However, at this very moment, he finally understood that there were some

women who had voices so entrancing that it could draw a person in.

I guess perverts can be turned on by just about anything.

Zu An made a jab about himself before his eyes suddenly lit up. He realized

that the passageway was opening up into a wide space. Even with a brief

look, it seemed to be at least several football courts large.

What caught his attention the most was the lake in front of him. It wasn’t

weird for there to be an accumulation of water inside a cavern, but the

pristine clarity of the water was unnatural. On top of that, there were

sprouting plants emanating a faint green light growing above the water. The

surface of the lake was cloaked in a thin layer of mist. All in all, it looked

extremely conspicuous in the midst of the dark underground palace.

While Zu An was lacking in common sense in this world, he could still tell

as much as the plants were anything but ordinary.

As if having guessed his thoughts, the feminine voice said, “Indeed. The

medicine that can cure your companion is inside the lake.”

Zu An could sense that Chu Chuyan’s breathing was becoming lighter and

lighter. It was to the point where he couldn’t hear it anymore unless he was

focusing hard. Knowing that there was no time to be lost, he rushed over to

the lake with her in his arm.

However, an instinctive shudder ran through his body in the next moment,

compelling him to stop in his footstep. He turned his stiffened neck toward

the left.

He was too excited upon seeing the glowing plants above the lake that he

forgot to assess his surroundings carefully, and it was only now that he was

able to see what he had neglected.

There were rows of terracotta halberdiers standing in a neat formation in the

midst of this massive underground square. They had towering figures,

standing at around 1.85 meters tall. Even with a rough glance, Zu An could

tell that there were several thousands of them.

By the sides of the halberdier formation were formations of war chariots,

and behind them was a huge battalion of archers…

In other words, he was really faced with a complete army here!

Zu An rubbed his eyes in disbelief, wondering if he had returned back to

Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum he had visited in his previous life.

Isn’t this practically the terracotta army?

However, there was a difference between the two. The terracotta soldiers

before him were dressed neatly in vibrant armor. Their sharp weapons

hinted that they were all elite soldiers. They couldn’t be compared with the

dilapidated terracotta soldiers he had seen in the Mausoleum Site Museum

in his previous life.

As if having sensed an intruder, blue light started gleaming in the eyes of

the sleeping terracotta soldiers, and all of them suddenly turned to look at

him simultaneously.

It was hard to describe this feeling. The eerieness of being stared down by

thousands of terracotta soldiers all at once was so intimidating and sinister

that he nearly suffocated.

Kacha!

The terracotta soldiers in the front row began moving. They held their

halberds loosely in their arms, but for some reason, they seemed to be

pointed toward Zu An. Their movements were still a little awkward at the

start, but slowly, they were becoming more nimble.

Zu An gulped. He couldn’t even be bothered to gauge the individual

fighting prowess of these terracotta soldiers anymore. With their numbers,

they could easily crush him to death if they swarmed down on him all at

once.

Chapter 164: Choice

“What are you in a daze for? Hurry up and beam that light on them!” the

feminine voice lectured. She was displeased with how he was losing his

focus at such a critical moment.

Zu An finally snapped out of his daze. He quickly raised his flashlight and

aimed it at the terracotta soldiers before him.

Under the glaring radiance of his flashlight, the vibrant colors on the

terracotta soldiers began fading at a visible pace. They had been charging

forward mightily a moment ago, but without a shred of hesitation, all of

them turned tail to flee in the presence of the flashlight. Some of them even

tripped over in a moment of anxiety.

The huge contrast between how they acted before and after made the scene

appear quite ludicrous. They quickly returned back to their original position

and turned their heads around, acting as if they couldn’t see or hear

anything at all.

The blue light in their eyes also quickly receded. It was almost as if they

had returned back into lifeless sculptures.

“Looks like it’s in the instinctive nature of all lifeforms to oppress the weak

and fear the strong.” Zu An continued directing his flashlight toward the

terracotta soldiers, but none of them reacted at all.

However, Rage points was still steadily flowing into his system.

You have successfully trolled the Terracotta Soldiers for +6 +6 +6 +6…

If not for the fact that Chu Chuyan is in a bad condition, I’d stand here and

suck all of your Rage points dry!

Seeing that the terracotta soldiers no longer posed a threat for the time

being, he quickly made his way over to the lake. It was only in proximity

that he realized that the green plants floating were all lotus leaves, nearly

covering nearly the entire lake. The faint green light he saw earlier on came

from them.

What was different about these lotus leaves was their glistening verdant

exterior that greatly resembled jade. Interestingly, the huge cluster of lotus

leaves surrounded a small lotus flower that sat at the very center of the lake.

Despite the sombre environment in the cavern, a divine and beautiful lotus

was in full bloom. Its petals were snowy in color, resembling the beautiful

fingers of a lady. At the center of its petals was a yellowish core that

emanated a mysterious glow that resembled the stars in the sky.

Zu An was delighted. This must be the medicine that the mysterious voice

was talking about. He was just about to head over and harvest it when he

suddenly froze in place. He realized that the lotus had suddenly vanished

from view, leaving behind just its verdant leaves around.

Is there someone else around? Is that person’s cultivation rank so high that I

couldn’t even see his movements?

Zu An quickly scanned his surroundings, but there was no one else to be

seen other than the terracotta soldiers. At that moment, he felt like his body

had been plunged into icy water. I came so far, only to be foiled at the last

moment. Am I doomed to watch helplessly as Chu Chuyan loses her life?

“What are you doing? Isn’t the lotus still at the same spot?” Noticing Zu

An’s crestfallen expression, the feminine voice spoke up once again.

Taken aback, Zu An quickly raised his head to take another look, but

mysteriously, the lotus had reappeared at the same spot where he last saw it.

“Huh? What’s going on?” Zu An rubbed his eyes in confusion, only to see

that the lotus had disappeared once again. This time, instead of averting his

gaze, he chose to stare intently on the same spot.

As he had expected, the lotus reappeared once more a few seconds later!

It seemed like the lotus possessed the mysterious ability to phase out of

appearance.

All of a sudden, he remembered what Ji Dengtu had said to him, and his

face warped in astonishment. With a slightly bitter voice, he asked, “By any

chance, is it possible that this lotus is called ‘Evanescent Lotus?”

“Indeed, it’s called Evanescent Lotus,” the feminine voice replied.

Zu An’s breathing immediately hastened. He had finally stumbled upon

what he had been searching all this while! However, still unable to believe

his luck, he asked, “I heard that the Evanescent Lotus blooms once every

thousand years, and its flower only remains for several hours each time

around. How long has this flower bloomed for?”

His voice was quivering in fear, as if he was afraid that the lotus would

wither in the next moment.

“While the Evanescent Lotus does take a long time to bloom, it doesn’t take

a thousand years. Also, this flower is a little special. You need not worry

about it withering,” replied the feminine voice.

“It won’t wither? How can that be possible?” Zu An was stunned. That was

different from what he had heard from the others.

“Due to the environment this lotus grew up in and several other factors, it’s

different from the other ‘Evanescent Lotuses’,” the feminine voice said.

“Do you want to slowly discuss this with me or save your companion first?

I can sense her life force gradually extinguishing. In around sixty seconds,

she’ll die for good.”

“Are there any other Evanescent Lotuses here?” Zu An asked hurriedly.

“Other Evanescent Lotuses? Hah, it’s already a huge blessing that you were

able to find this one, but you’re still hoping to find more here?” the

feminine voice harrumphed. “You need not worry. This one is more than

enough to save her. If she manages to repair her ki meridian, she can even

raise her cultivation by an entire rank right away!”

“The Evanescent Lotus cannot repair her ki meridian?” Zu An was stunned.

He didn’t expect this medicine to only be able to preserve her life. For

someone as proud as Chu Chuyan, there was no way she could bear living

as a cripple for the rest of her life.

“This woman must have used a forbidden art far beyond her means to end

up in such a state. It wouldn’t be a forbidden art if one didn’t have to pay a

price for it,” remarked the feminine voice.

Zu An’s face darkened. Had it been any treasure, no matter how formidable

it would be, he would have unhesitatingly used it to save Chu Chuyan.

But this was Evanescent Lotus, the treasure he had been searching hard for

all this while!

Being sealed down there really shattered his pride and dignity, and he

couldn’t bear to allow himself to remain in this state. He knew that it was

already a huge stroke of luck that he was able to stumble upon this

Evanescent Lotus, and if he missed this opportunity, it was unlikely that he

would ever find another one in his lifetime.

If so, he could only hope that he would one day reach Master rank and

dispel the seal using his own power. Now that he was finally a cultivator, he

knew how difficult it was to raise his cultivation rank. Even at the very

least, he felt that it would take him fifty years to reach Master rank.

But he would have already turned into an old man by then! What was the

use of unlocking ‘little Zu An’ when he was already a step in the grave?

Besides, there was no guarantee that he would ever reach Master rank.

After all, cultivation was not just all about hard work. There was also a

chance that he might never get to regain his functions as a man.

And most importantly of all, the Evanescent Lotus couldn’t repair Chu

Chuyan’s meridians. Even if he saved her, she would have to live her life as

a cripple. She might be thankful to him, but how long would her gratitude

last?

If she were to meet a man that was far more outstanding than him in the

future, what would become of him?

He wouldn’t be able to say a thing at all, for he couldn’t even fulfill his

basic duties as a husband. Women had physical needs that needed to be

satisfied too. Having read all kinds of adultery cases in his previous life, he

couldn’t neglect the possibility of Chu Chuyan leaving him for another

man.

He would be doing a noble deed now by saving her, but could he really

confidently say that he wouldn’t regret it when she scorned him for his

impotence and ended up getting together with another man?

He lowered his gaze to look at the sickly Chu Chuyan, then he clenched his

fists tightly. He gently put her down before hurriedly leaping across the lake

to pluck the Evanescent Lotus out.

…

Back to Shi Kun and Qiao Xueying’s side, they were currently encircled by

an army of zombie swordsmen.

These zombie swordsmen were incensed by how Zu An undermined them

earlier, but the blinding light he emanated earlier on was so terrifying that

they instinctively dared not to exact vengeance on him. So, they could only

vent their rage on the two remaining victims with them. In their view, the

humans had come to this cavern together, so they were all comrades.

The ones to suffer the aftermath of Zu An’s taunting was, needless to say,

Shi Kun and Qiao Xueying. For some reason, the zombie axemen,

spearmen, and swordsmen suddenly seemed to be stronger than before.

In the first place, the two of them were already approaching their limits,

placing them in a very dangerous position.

While Shi Kun was cursing Zu An furiously in his mind, Qiao Xueying

said, “Young master, we shouldn’t remain here any longer. Let’s return to

the surface.”

Shi Kun fell silent. To be honest, he felt indignant to retreat just like that.

He had lost so many of his lackeys and used his most treasured trump card,

but even so, he was still unable to attain Chu Chuyan.

However, he also understood that it was meaningless for them to remain

here. They couldn’t even deal with the zombie soldiers before them, let

alone venture any deeper from here.

Unlike Zu An, they didn’t have a tool that could repel the zombies.

Goddamnit, why does Zu An have so many weird artifacts on him?

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +345 Rage!

“Alright, let’s head out now and camp outside the tomb. They can’t possibly

camp there their whole life!” Shi Kun harrumphed.

He had already made up his mind to snatch Chu Chuyan over and take

away all of Zu An’s treasures. Why choose when he could have it all?

The two of them slowly retreated while fending against the zombie soldiers.

When they were just about to return back to the passageway, a terrifying

pressure suddenly crushed down within the area.

Shi Kun and Qiao Xueying’s face warped in horror. Without any hesitation,

they tried to channel all of the ki they had and run away. However, for some

reason, their ki simply wouldn’t heed their control. They found themselves

frozen on the spot, unable to move at all.

A black fog arose in the center of the room, and a black-armored general

riding on a steed slowly appeared amidst the black fog. All of the zombie

swordsmen, zombie spearmen, zombie axemen, and zombie archers

immediately halted their attack and bowed down to pay respects to it.

Qiao Xueying found her heart beating rapidly.

The aura emanated by the black-armored general is even more terrifying

than the Devouring Kun the young master summoned earlier. On top of

that, the fact that the zombie soldiers are bowing down to it shows that it

has the ability to command lower-level soldiers. There’s no way we would

stand a chance against it!

The black-armored general glanced at the duo, and astonishingly, it began

uttering human speech, “Hah! Two weaklings had the lot of you terrified to

such an extent?”

Its voice was hoarse like the vilest demons in the innermost depths of hell.

The zombie soldiers quickly tried to explain the situation, producing some

bizarre noises while making some gestures. It would appear that their

lacking intelligence disallowed them from speaking.

However, the black-armored general listened to their words and muttered to

itself, “There are still two more of them, and one of them is holding onto an

artifact that releases terrifying light…”

It swept the surroundings and noticed the body of Shi Kun’s lackey pinned

on the wall. With a wave of its hand, the corpse flew into its grasp. “He

might be dead, but we shouldn’t waste his flesh and blood.”

As it said those words, the corpse began to dry up at a terrifying rate. In just

a few seconds, all that was left of it was a ball-sized leftover that seemed to

be made up of a mishmash of bone and flesh.

“The scent of fresh blood is ever so alluring.” The black-armored general

tossed the ‘ball’ to the side as it moaned in pleasure, as if it hadn’t felt so

exhilarated in a long time now.

Shi Kun gulped fearfully.

This is too terrifying! That fellow actually feeds on human flesh and blood!

Am I going to die in this darned place? Had I known earlier, I wouldn’t

have used Devouring Kun in a fit of recklessness earlier. Now I don’t stand

a chance against that monster anymore.

With such thoughts in mind, he began cursing the culprit who had led him

into this situation.

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +777 Rage!

The black-armored general finally turned his gaze upon the two of them,

and it said, “So, which of the two of you should I dine in to first?”

Chapter 165: Heh, Men!

Seeing that the black-armored general had turned its sight to him, Shi Kun

nearly peed his pants. He had lived a life of greatness, being born into a

prominent clan, blessed with both looks and talent. There was a bright

future ahead of him.

Am I really going to die in this lousy place like that?

When he thought about how his brawny subordinate was sucked down into

a ball by that black-armored general, he began shuddering in fear.

All of a sudden, green light surfaced on Qiao Xueying’s body, then she

spurted a mouthful of blood. It was hard to tell what she had done, but she

had managed to break free of the restraint rooting her in place. She quickly

ran over to Shi Kun’s side and touched his head, and the same green light

swiftly suffused his body too.

This was the power of life force, and it had the ability to curb the death aura

of the undead.

Qiao Xueying’s face had turned pale, and blood was trailing from the corner

of her lips. Clearly, using this power was extremely draining on her.

“Young master, we need to run!”

There were still another few more seconds before Shi Kun was released

from his seal, but before an expert of the black-armored general’s caliber,

even a second or two was enough to take their lives. Not daring to waste

any time, Qiao Xueying grabbed Shi Kun’s body and immediately ran

toward the passageway.

“You’re courting death!” The black-armored general flew into a state of

rage and charged toward the duo.

Looking at the speed of the black-armored general, a hint of despair flashed

across Qiao Xueying’s eyes. She gritted her teeth as her face steeled in

determination. She knew that it was impossible for her to get away, so she

decided to sacrifice herself to buy some time for the young master to escape

instead.

Her hair morphed into countless vines that began whipping at the black-

armored general. She was already completely depleted, and she was

burning her life force here in order to sustain herself.

She considered using her two remaining uses of Moon Reflection here as

well. While it wouldn’t allow her to get away from the black-armored

general, at the very least, it could buy them some time for the young master

to run away.

Her only worry right now was that the young master wouldn’t be able to

flee decisively.

If he insists on standing alongside me to fight the black-armored general,

it’s likely that both of us will end up dying here.

But all of a sudden, she felt a force pushing her from behind, sending her

flying in the direction of the black-armored general. She had been too

focused on defending against the enemy in front of her that her back was

unguarded, which resulted in her falling frontward helplessly.

At that moment, Qiao Xueying’s mind went completely blank. The only

person behind her was the young master, so there wasn’t even any doubt on

who could it be.

Even so, she was reluctant to let go of that tiny sliver of hope that she might

just be mistaken. She still turned around, hoping that she had it all wrong.

And when she finally saw Shi Kun’s frantically fleeing silhouette, she

finally descended in despair. It turned out that in Shi Kun’s heart, she was

nothing more than a pawn that could be thrown out at any moment in order

to block an arrow…

The black-armored general reached out and wrapped its massive hands

around Qiao Xueying’s neck. The force was far greater than what Qiao

Xueying could deal with, but it didn’t matter anymore as her heart had

already died.

She closed her eyes and waited for the moment that she was reduced to a

dried corpse.

Unexpectedly, nothing happened even after a while later. She opened her

eyes, only to see a perplexed look on the face of the black-armored general.

To be more exact, its face was hidden in a layer of black mist, but for some

reason, she was still able to perceive its feelings.

“Another betrayal scene, huh?” remarked the black-armored general

wistfully before sighing deeply. It seemed to have dredged up memories

from the distant past.

Then, it harrumphed coldly and said, “I’ve always looked down on those

who dared to betray their comrades. Come back here!”

It raised its other hand and began conjuring black mist, which swiftly

revolved to form a black hole directed toward the entrance of the

passageway.

Shi Kun was in the midst of fleeing frantically in the passageway when he

suddenly felt a powerful force pulling him back from behind. He

immediately lost his balance and tumbled a few rounds backward. In his

fluster, he whipped out a sword and stabbed it into the walls of the

passageway before barely stabilizing himself.

He was astounded by how a wind cultivator like himself was actually

utterly helpless before this furious wind pulling him back. He could only

desperately grasp onto the handle of the sword to hold his position.

But soon, the suction force grew stronger, causing him to fly in the air. His

hands were also gradually slipping from the handle of his sword. In the end,

one of his hands couldn’t hold on anymore and slipped off the handle, and

he hurriedly reached out to claw at the cavern wall beside him before he

could steady himself.

He knew that he would be a goner once he got pulled in, so he could only

grit his teeth and hang on. His fingers were starting to bleed from clawing

against the rough cavern wall, but he couldn’t care about that right now.

“Looks like you have a strong desire to live, but it’s meaningless.” The

black-armored general’s fingers twisted as the suction force grew even

greater, determined to pull Shi Kun back.

But all of a sudden, its body stiffened before it exclaimed in a mixture of

horror and anger. “How dare you covet the Evanescent Lotus!”

It was in no mood to deal with Shi Kun anymore after the emergency

struck. Black mist rose from his back and covered it and its steed before

vanishing without a trace. Qiao Xueying, who was in its grasp, was brought

away with it.

Shi Kun was still desperately struggling in the passageway with a despaired

look in his eyes as he knew that he was swiftly approaching his limits. But

all of a sudden, the suction force vanished without a trace, and he fell

heavily onto the ground, knocking his face swollen.

Even so, he was delighted by the turn of events. He wasn’t sure what had

happened, and he didn’t dare to investigate either. He quickly fumbled to

his feet and ran out of the mausoleum desperately. Even when he had

finally escaped through the stone doors, he continued running until he was

finally several li away.

…

Meanwhile, Zu An pulled out the Evanescent Lotus before slowly plucking

out its petal one after another to feed his wife. There was a pained look on

his face. “Honey, do you know what I gave up for your sake? If you treat

me badly in the future, you would be worse than a human…”

“Heh, men~” sneered the feminine voice. “Your wife’s life is hanging by a

thread, but you’re still dreaming of raising your cultivation. If I was her, my

heart would be chilled by your deed.”

“You don’t know shit at all!” cursed Zu An. However, he couldn’t be

bothered to explain it since his seal wasn’t anything honorable either.

“How dare you speak to me in such a manner?” said the feminine voice

sharply.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +314 Rage.[1]

Zu An was stunned. Is that the name of that mysterious woman? What a

queer surname she has. Had I not watched ‘Legend of Mi Yue’[2] in my

previous life, I wouldn’t even know how to read that character.

However, he was in no mood to bother about her. He realized that Chu

Chuyan couldn’t swallow the petal because she was already unconscious.

Recalling how the feminine voice had reminded him that she only had sixty

seconds left to live, Zu An didn’t dare to hesitate at all. He first bit the

flower petals himself before feeding it to her mouth-to-mouth.

It was a dream of countless men to share a kiss with Chu Chuyan, but Zu

An was in no mood to enjoy it at all. His mind was dominated by his worry

for her to think about it at all.

He didn’t dare to dawdle in the slightest throughout the entire process. He

fed the petals of the Evanescent Lotus a mouthful by a mouthful to her.

Both his nose and mouth were filled with a fragrance, but he couldn’t tell

whether it was coming from the lotus itself or Chu Chuyan.

A while later, Chu Chuyan finally opened her eyes. It was hard to tell

whether it was because she had recovered from her earlier frail state, but

she stared at him with a red tinge on her cheeks.

“You’re awake?” Zu An was delighted. His heart was finally put at ease.

“W-what are you doing?” Chu Chuyan looked at the petals in his hands

before glancing at his lips.

Feeling a little guilt-ridden, Zu An quickly clarified, “I was saving you

earlier! I wasn’t trying to take advantage of you.”

Chu Chuyan was silent a while before nodding. “I know.”

The atmosphere was a little awkward. Zu An didn’t know what to say, so he

instinctively bit the flower petals and leaned forward to feed her again.

However, halfway through his actions, he suddenly froze up.

She’s awake now, right? There’s no need for me to feed her like that

anymore.

Chu Chuyan was also stunned by his action. She fidgeted unnaturally for a

moment before turning her head away, saying, “I can do it myself.”

Zu An knew that she wouldn’t accept his mouth-to-mouth feeding now that

she was already awake, so he could only pass the remaining petals over to

her. “Here you go.”

Meanwhile, he swallowed the petal of the Evanescent Lotus that was

already in his mouth, wondering if one was enough for him to dispel his

seal. He took out the unsealing pill that Ji Dengtu had forged for him and

swallowed it down right away.

Then, he quickly began examining the changes in his body.

As soon as he swallowed the unsealing pill, he could sense surges of heat

gushing toward his abdomen. At the same time, there was also a refreshing

pulse that appeared to be from the Evanescent Lotus.

The surges of heat swiftly mixed together with the refreshing pulse as they

moved downward, opening several of his ki meridians. He felt like the

shackles on his body were gradually being pried open.

“There’s a chance!”

Zu An’s eyes lit up and he focused his attention on channeling the

combined energy flow to open up his sealed meridians.

Everything went well at the start, but the combined energy flow suddenly

seemed to have met with a particularly resilient barrier that he couldn’t

break down no matter what he tried. Every time he tried, the combined

surge of energy would whittle down a little. Eventually, he could only

watch helplessly as it vanished.

There’s not enough medicinal energy!

Zu An was on the verge of tears. Heaven, just why is my life so hard?!

However, it was not all in vain. Zu An realized that his fifth formation had

been filled up. Theoretically speaking, it would have required 377 Ki Fruits,

which would have taken him a great deal of time. However, he managed to

clear it easily with just a single flower petal here.

The rumors were true! A single flower petal could indeed raise one’s

cultivation by a step.

But what’s the use of that? The ability I really wanted still hasn’t returned

yet!

“What is this medicine?” asked Chu Chuyan.

Her mind was in a mess earlier, so she subconsciously swallowed down all

of the flower petals which Zu An gave her. But when she felt a surge of

mystical calming energy suffusing her own body, she immediately realized

that what she had just consumed was not anything ordinary,

Her ki meridians were still in tatters, but her injuries were healing at an

insane pace. In fact, she had a feeling that as long as she recuperated

carefully over the next few years, she might just be able to reforge her

devastated ki meridians!

While her cultivation would probably still remain crippled, and her

movements might be even less nimble than that of an ordinary person, still,

it was much better than being paralyzed her entire life.

“I chanced upon this medicine here, and I noticed that you were already on

your last breath, so I gave it to you.” Zu An was not the type of person who

didn’t leave his name behind after doing a good deed, but it felt way too

intentional if he revealed the name of the Evanescent Lotus here. Besides,

he was feeling too frustrated at having lost a chance to unseal ‘little Zu An’

that he didn’t even want to mention it right now.

Then, it suddenly dawned on him why he hadn’t heard the feminine voice

all this while.

“Who dares to touch my Evanescent Lotus?” a furious voice bellowed not

too far away.

1. It’s a different Mi from Old Mi. However, this surname is quite rare,

notably the surname of Queen Dowager Xuan in the Qin Dynasty.

2. It’s a famous historical drama on the Qin Dynasty following Queen

Dowager Xuan, otherwise known as Mi Yue.

Chapter 166: Soul Suppression Seal

You have successfully trolled Zombie General Zhang Han for +999 Rage!

Zhang Han?[1]

Zu An was taken aback. Why does this name sound so familiar?

However, he didn’t have any spare attention to be thinking deeper into this

matter. Even the zombie soldiers were hard enough to deal with, and now a

zombie general had emerged too. Without a doubt, this wasn’t someone

whom he could deal with.

He was still perplexed as to why he could harvest the Evanescent Lotus so

easily earlier. Such treasures tended to have powerful beasts protecting

them.

Speak of the devil indeed!

Zu An quickly picked up Chu Chuyan with the intention to flee, but the

zombie general was simply too fast. There was no chance for him to run

away.

Black mist rose out of nowhere, and a black-armored general emerged from

it. It scanned the surroundings before finally glaring at the terracotta

soldiers by the side. “Why didn’t you stop the invader?”

“…” Terracotta soldiers.

We did try, alright! But that terrifying light in his hand is able to strip us of

our colors easily…

It was then that Zu An noticed that the black-armored general was holding

Qiao Xueying in his hands. Looking at the dazed look in her eyes, he

couldn’t help but wonder what the black-armored general had done to her.

Ah, why isn’t Brother Shit anywhere to be seen? Is he dead? Also, why did

this black-armored general spare Qiao Xueying’s life? Do zombies have

lust too?

Zu An was impressed with how he still had the leisure to think about such

random thoughts even when he was in such a dangerous position.

The black-armored general looked at Zu An and Chu Chuyan before turning

his attention toward the lake behind them. His face warped in horror as he

exclaimed, “No!”

His figure blurred, and almost instantaneously, he appeared right beside the

two of them. He gazed at the disappeared Evanescent Lotus in the lake and

shuddered fearfully. “You two actually… plucked the lotus out. Do you

know how big of a calamity you’re bringing to the world?!”

You have successfully trolled Zombie General Zhang Han for +1024 Rage!

Zu An finally understood what Qiao Xueying and the others had gone

through earlier. The terrifying pressure exerted by the black-armored

general was so great that he was nearly rendered breathless.

He was still feeling confident from having raised his cultivation by a step,

but cruel reality poured a pail of cold water over him.

He knew that there was a huge gap of power between him and the black-

armored general, so he could only hope to use the Magical Flashlight to

deal with it. He bit his tongue to regain his rationality before quickly aiming

the flashlight toward it.

Noticing the white light in Zu An’s hands, the black-armored general

harrumphed coldly before warping into a blur. As fast as the speed of light

was, it was limited by the movement of Zu An’s hands. With its strength, it

wasn’t too difficult for it to dodge the radiance coming from the flashlight.

Sensing that the black-armored general was right by his side, the alarmed

Zu An quickly tried to turn his flashlight earlier, but a sudden numbing

sensation in his arm caused him to drop the flashlight into the lake. Perhaps

it was due to it falling into the water, its light flickered for a moment before

switching off.

Zu An was relieved that he had kept the Magical Flashlight back into his

keyboard’s space in the nick of time, or else he would have been pained by

its loss.

Knowing that it was unlikely for him to be able to curb the black-armored

general even if he brought out the Magical Flashlight again, he decided to

just feign as if it had disappeared into the lake.

“Where’s the Evanescent Lotus? Bring it out!” The black-armored general

glared at Zu An and Chu Chuyan coldly. By this moment, it had already

tossed Qiao Xueying to the side.

Zu An gulped fearfully as he replied carefully, “What lotus? I didn’t see

anything at all?”

At the same time, he cursed that feminine voice in his mind.

Why didn’t she warn me that there was such a formidable fellow guarding

this place? I wouldn’t have come if I knew in advance!

Wait a moment, she lured me here before disappearing all of a sudden.

Could it be that she has some other intentions in mind?

The black-armored general harrumphed coldly. It was just about to say

something when it suddenly caught the scent of something. It immediately

turned its sights toward Chu Chuyan and exclaimed, “You actually ate it!”

Chu Chuyan widened her eyes in astonishment. She quickly turned to Zu

An and asked in disbelief, “You… The flower you fed me earlier is the

Evanescent Lotus?”

Zu An nodded his head helplessly. The black-armored general was

obviously no fool, so there was no point putting on an act anymore.

Chu Chuyan immediately lost her patience. “Weren’t you waiting for an

opportunity to use the Evanescent Lotus to undo the seal on your body?

Why did you give it to me?”

Zu An sighed deeply and said, “There’s bound to be another way out of

this. Otherwise, I’ll just have to make do with it. I can’t simply watch as

you die before my eyes.”

By the side, Qiao Xueying also snapped out of her daze, and a hint of

astonishment surfaced in her eyes. She was also aware of Zu An’s affliction,

and she couldn’t believe that the latter actually gave away something that

could have cured his impotence to save the young miss…

To be honest, she had always looked down on this good-for-nothing ruffian,

and she believed that he was nowhere in comparison to the young master.

However, everything that had happened today made her doubt her

judgment, especially when she remembered how Shi Kun used her as a

shield earlier on. On the other hand, Zu An was actually willing to make

such a huge sacrifice in order to save Chu Chuyan.

The contrast couldn’t be made more obvious here.

The black-armored general, however, had no interest in listening to their

conversation. He stood by the side of the lake with a grave expression on

his face. The calm surface of the water began to ripple as a light blue

luminescence emerged from the depths of the lake.

It quickly raised its hands to form an incredibly complicated seal before

spreading a layer of black aura over the surface of the water/

Some time later, the water surface finally regained its composure.

Nevertheless, one could still vaguely see the light blue luminescence

striking on the layer of black aura, seemingly intent on bursting forth.

“What is he doing?” Zu An noticed the unnatural actions of the black-

armored general too. He was thinking of making use of this opportunity to

flee, but the pressure crushing down on his body kept him firmly in place,

leaving him unable to move at all.

“He seems to be setting up some kind of formation to seal something

beneath the water,” replied Chu Chuyan distractedly. Her mind was still an

utter mess from having learned that Zu An had used the Evanescent Lotus

to save her, such that she couldn’t even focus on the current situation they

were in.

Despite being a young lady who had never done that kind of thing, she was

still aware of how important a man viewed potency to be. In some cases,

they might even value it even more than their life.

He made such a huge sacrifice for me…

Chu Chuyan stared at Zu An in a daze as many thoughts flashed across her

mind.

Meanwhile, the black-armored general finally turned its attention back to

Zu An and Chu Chuyan. It looked considerably more exhausted than

before, but its face warped in ferocity as it bellowed, “You actually dared to

foil the Soul Suppression Seal here. It’s fortunate that it hasn’t been long

since you consumed the Evanescent Lotus, so its medicinal effect hasn’t

receded entirely. As long as I use your body as a tribute, I should be able to

calm those rampaging dead souls beneath!”

With a wave of its hand, Chu Chuyan immediately flew out of Zu An’s

grasp and into its hand.

Alarmed, Zu An roared, “What are you doing?!”

“As I’ve said, I’m going to use the blood and flesh of you invaders to repair

the formation so as to appease the rampaging souls of the dead!” The black-

armored general waved its hand, and the terracotta soldiers rushed forward

to hold Zu An and Qiao Xueying down. “Bring them over to the altar!”

With a flit, it immediately arrived outside a circular platform around a

hundred meters away. It placed Chu Chuyan down on top of a stone table.

Chu Chuyan’s ki meridians were currently all severed, so she couldn’t even

struggle at all. She wasn’t afraid of death, but she couldn’t help but worry

for Zu An. He had sacrificed so much for her that her conscience wouldn’t

rest easy if she were to die right now.

Zu An’s heart was in disarray as the terracotta soldiers pushed him and Qiao

Xueying over to the circular platform. He thought of what the black-

armored general said about them breaking the Soul Suppression Seal, which

sounded like some sort of sealing formation.

However, they didn’t do anything after entering this place other than to

harvest the Evanescent Lotus.

Wait a moment!

He quickly turned toward the lake and saw that the verdant lotus leaves had

lost their luster and had started withering, and the mist shrouding the water

surface had vanished too.

Could the lotus leaves be the formation, and the Evanescent Lotus is its

formation core? Goddamnit!

Zu An cursed angrily in his mind. If it’s such an important formation, why

didn’t you protect it well? You shouldn’t have allowed me to get close so

easily!

But then, he caught sight of the huge army of terracotta soldiers by the side

and went completely silent.

Ah…

Those terracotta soldiers were obviously here to protect the formation. With

their prowess, even Chu Zhongtian wouldn’t have been able to get close to

the Evanescent Lotus. Yet, who could have thought that Zu An would have

a tool that could suppress all of these undead beings…

I wonder what’s sealed at the bottom of the lake that even this powerful

zombie general is so afraid of it. Could it be that woman named Mi Li?

Thinking back, there was no way the feminine voice would have lured him

here without any reason. Most likely, this was what she was aiming for.

But again, given how melodious that woman’s voice was, it was hard to

imagine her as some sort of terrifying monstrosity.

“What are you thinking of?” Qiao Xueying’s voice suddenly sounded at this

moment.

Zu An turned over and saw Qiao Xueying looking at him with large eyes.

“Ah, you aren’t dead yet?”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

Why is this fellow so hateful? I really feel like pummeling him every time

he opens his mouth.

But to her own surprise, she didn’t get mad at Zu An this time around.

“Why did you give the Evanescent Lotus to the young miss?” asked Qiao

Xueying.

“She’s my wife. Do you expect me to watch as she dies before my eyes?”

Zu An harrumphed in response.

To that, Qiao Xueying replied calmly, “Others might not know better, but I

know how the relationship between the two of you are. You can’t even be

considered a proper couple.”

“Will you cut it out?” Zu An spat venomously. “I was already regretting it,

but you just have to continue harping on it, huh? Are you here to rub it on

me?”

A faint smile finally emerged on Qiao Xueying’s lips. “That sounds much

more like you.”

She previously thought that Zu An’s ruffianlike attitude was hateful, but in

a change of circumstances, she felt that he looked authentic instead. There

wasn’t that disgusting layer of hypocriticism around him.

Shi Kun surfaced in her mind, and her face darkened once more.

By then, the two of them had already arrived on the circular platform.

“Honey!”

“Young miss!”

Upon seeing Chu Chuyan on the stone table, the two of them called out

worriedly.

“I… I’m fine,” replied Chu Chuyan feebly, though she knew that she

wouldn’t be very soon.

Zu An finally got a chance to assess this place carefully, and he noted that

the area looked very alike to those tribute altars he had seen on television in

his previous life. The altar was circular in shape, filled with all sorts of

esoteric runes. At the center was the stone table where Chu Chuyan was

lying on. Around her were all sorts of jars and vats that seemed to be filled

with all sorts of horrors.

At the perimeter of the altar, there were nine massive pillars that were

sculptured with a coiling dragon often seen in eastern legends. Even the

scales of the dragon looked incredibly lifelike.

Zu An and Qiao Xueying were tied to two of the pillars.

The black-armored general walked over with a saber in its hand and said,

“Let’s start with your blood to warm up the altar. So, who shall be going

first this time around?”

1. He’s a famous military general in the Qin Dynasty in its waning years.

Chapter 167: I am Qin Shihuang!

As soon as Zu An heard those words, he pointed to Qiao Xueying and

exclaimed, “Her! Let her go first!”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

“Wow, I really should thank you for your generosity, huh?” Qiao Xueying

shot Zu An a deathly glare.

“You aren’t even my woman, so why should I protect you? Not to mention,

we’re enemies now. Haven’t you heard of the saying ‘kick them while

they’re down’?” Zu An wasn’t embarrassed in the least.

Qiao Xueying sighed deeply and said, “Haaa, you do have no reason to

protect me.”

Zu An was a little flabbergasted by how easily Qiao Xueying was going

along with him. “Am I hearing things? You’re actually agreeing with me?”

Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes and said, “What’s wrong with you? Why do

you look so horrified when I’m agreeing with what you said? Do you

actually enjoy having me refute you? Disgusting!”

On the stone table, Chu Chuyan burst into laughter. The two of them always

bicker with one another whenever they meet. It really feels like a love-hate

relationship.

The black-armored general shot a glance at Zu An before saying, “At least

you’re much franker than that man earlier on, a genuine scoundrel.”

“Wait a moment, why am I a scoundrel? Haven’t you seen how devoted I

am to my wife?” Zu An immediately lost his temper. “Oh, wait a moment.

Does that mean that Shi Kun abandoned her? Did he try to use her as a

shield so as to buy time for his own escape?”

Qiao Xueying was taken aback. “How did you know? Have you been

spying on us?!”

“I don’t have such an interest.” Zu An shrugged. “Do I even need to watch

to see it to know? It’s a scene so cliché in drama series that it hardly

interests me anymore.”

“What is ‘drama series’?”

Neither Qiao Xueying nor Chu Chuyan had heard of it before.

“That’s not important. The important thing is that you should have finally

seen what kind of a man Shi Kun is. He’s someone who values his own life

above others. Putting aside a servant like you, I reckon that he wouldn’t

hesitate to abandon his own father in times to danger!” said Zu An. “That’s

why I say that women like you are shallow. You think that good-looking

guys are bound to have pretty hearts too. Please! Men who look good are

bound to be creeps!”

A split second later, he quickly supplemented, “Cough cough, I’m the

exception, of course. Someone as handsome and gentle and kind as me is

one-of-a-kind in the world!”

“Stop it, I’m going to puke.” Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes. “It’s already

bad enough that I’m going to die here, so can you at least stop torturing

me?”

“Hey, are you going to continue being so rude?” Zu An was displeased.

The black-armored general finally interjected with a cold harrumph. “How

long are the two of you going to fight for? Don’t worry, I’ll take both of

your lives at once so that you can continue bickering on your way to hell.”

It raised its hands, and two sabers materialized before their heads like a

guillotine. It looked like they would fall at the next second and decapitate

the two of them.

“Ah Zu!” Chu Chuyan cried out in alarm, but she couldn’t move at all.

Even if she was in her peak condition, she still wouldn’t have been a match

for this black-armored general.

Qiao Xueying closed her eyes. Ever since she was treated like a shield by

Shi Kun, her heart had already died. At this point, death felt almost like a

relief to her.

It was then that Zu An suddenly spoke up, “Brother Zhang Han, there’s a

question that I need to ask you.”

Those abrupt words left Chu Chuyan taken aback. Even Qiao Xueying also

opened her eyes in intrigue. Who is he talking to?

The two women took a look around, but there was no one else around.

“Zhang Han…” The black-armored general shuddered upon hearing the

name. It took a long while before he finally responded wistfully, “It has

been a long time since anyone has called me that. I’ve almost forgotten my

own name.”

Qiao Xueying’s lower jaw nearly dropped to the ground. The zombie

general has a name, and Zu An actually knows it? What’s the world coming

to?

Chu Chuyan was stunned too. Zu An had really given her a lot of surprises

over the last few days. More and more secrets were surfacing from him,

stoking her curiosity. She realized that she had never really gotten to know

the real Zu An all this while.

“How do you know my name?” Zhang Han turned to Zu An with doubt in

his eyes.

Zu An smiled and said, “If I say that we’re friends in our previous life,

would you believe me?”

He had already used his skill ‘Befriend a Rich Man’. Yet another 100,000

silver taels going to waste… Damn!

He had learned his lesson from his previous failure with Shi Kun. He knew

that even if he became friends with the target, he still couldn’t change the

target’s train of thought. Thus, he chose to proceed with this matter

carefully, not daring to be too direct.

“Friends?” Zhang Han was stunned for a moment before roaring into

laughter. “I, Zhang Han, have no friends. I didn’t have any before, and I’ll

never have any!”

Despite those words, Zu An noticed that the two sabers in the sky

subconsciously moved sideward a little.

He sighed softly and said, “Y’know, we have a word for people like you—

tsundere. Are you sure that you don’t want to have friends? Surely it must

be lonely for you to guard this lifeless tomb all alone for so many years?”

Zhang Han was silent for a while before sighing deeply. “Lonely? Time

already holds no meaning to me, so what does loneliness count as?”

Both Qiao Xueying and Chu Chuyan glanced at one another in

bewilderment. The scene before them was simply too incomprehensible. In

the dingy depths of this underground palace, Zu An is actually having a

philosophical debate with a zombie?

However, Zhang Han soon snapped out of his daze. He stared at Zu An with

blue flames burning intently in his eyes as he asked, “Who in the world are

you? How do you know my name?”

“A woman named Mi Li told me,” replied Zu An.

He made sure to assess the black-armored general skeleton carefully as he

said those words, hoping to garner some information from the latter’s

reaction.

“Hmmm~” A surprised, feminine remark sounded from the depths of the

underground cavern. However, it was so soft that others couldn’t hear it at

all.

“Her Majesty? No, that’s impossible!” Zhang Han shook his head

vehemently with a fearful look on his face, as if he had just learned

something incredibly terrifying.

“Her Majesty?” Zu An’s eyes lit up as he remembered a piece of history in

his previous life.

In the Spring and Autumn–Warring States period, the Qin Country was

originally on good terms with the Jin Country. It supported the fleeing Duke

Wen of Jin onto the throne, ushering in prosperous times for the Jin

Country, who swiftly moved to conquer the states around it. Unfortunately,

the Qin Country harbored great ambitions—it intended to conquer the

Central Plains, and the Jin Country was both literally and figuratively

standing in its way.

The Jin Country couldn’t bear the notion of the Qin Country expanding its

influence to the Central Plains either, so a conflict broke out between the

two countries. It eventually led to the Battle of Xiao, where the Jin Country

set up traps for the Qin Country along the way and defeated the latter’s

army. That led to a complete fracturing of relations.

Having become enemies with the Jin Country, the Qin Country soon

proposed a political marriage with the Chu Country in order to strike an

alliance. It just so happened that the Jin Country was a common enemy

between the two of them, so it didn’t take much for them to get together on

the same bed.

In the next hundred years to come, the Qin Country and Chu Country

sustained their bonds by intermarriage. The queen of the Qin Country

would often be the princess of the Chu Country, and the men of the Chu

Royal Family went by the surname of ‘Xiong’ while its women went by the

surname of ‘Mi’.

‘Mi’ was a truly rare surname, so it was easy to link it to the Chu Country.

However, the Chu Country’s princesses who had married into the Qin Royal

Family were only able to become queens. Theoretically speaking, there

were only two of them who were qualified to be termed as empresses.[1]

However, based on what he knew, neither Qin Shihuang nor Qin Ershi had

any historical records on their empresses.

“How do you know Her Majesty’s name? There should have been no one in

the world who knows who she is. Who are you?” The black-armored

general rushed up to Zu An as it demanded with a fevered tone.

The other party’s powerful presence made it hard for Zu An to breathe. He

gulped fearfully as his heart quivered in hesitation. Should I gamble it?

He was aware that even if the black-armored general viewed him as its

friend, it was unlikely that it would let Chu Chuyan go. Since that was the

case, he had no choice but to give it a try.

Go big or go home! If I’m right, it’ll be all good. If I’m wrong, well, death

is the worst that can happen.

“Hahaha! You’re asking who I am?” Zu An suddenly burst into hearty

laughter.

Qiao Xueying turned to stare at him with a bewildered look. Has this fellow

been scared silly?

“I’m the one who has risen above the Three Sovereigns and Five

Emperors[2] to become the first sovereign emperor of the world! I am Qin

Shihuang, Ying Zheng[3]!” Zu An put on an air of royalty as he spoke.

“How could I possibly not know the name of my own empress?”

In a hidden space in the depths of the underground palace, within a big

crystal coffin, lay a beautiful woman drabbed in the fineries worn only by

the empress. She opened her eyes and spat, “That bastard! How dare he

takes advantage of me?”

On the altar, Zhang Han was utterly shocked. He staggered a few steps

backward in shock before murmuring weakly, “Y-Your Majesty?”

Qiao Xueying was baffled, unable to comprehend what they were saying at

all.

What sovereign emperor and Qin Shihuang? Why haven’t I heard any of

that before? It’s lucky that we’re the only ones here, or else if word were to

spread that he proclaimed himself as emperor, the whole Chu clan will be

executed together with him.

Only Chu Chuyan frowned upon hearing those words. She remembered

hearing those names from the historical records in the academy, but there

were very few details stated in there. This world was severely lacking in the

research of historical text.

“Zhang Han, why are you not kneeling despite being in my presence?!” Zu

An roared majestically, but his heart was beating quickly in unease. Did I

go too big this time around?

“Chamberlain of Palace Revenue, Zhang Han, pays respects to Your

Majesty. Long live Your Majesty!”

The black-armored general recalled how it thought the latter felt close to it

earlier on. With all of this circumstantial evidence in place, it quickly

kneeled onto the floor and kowtowed to Zu An.

The two women were so shocked that their eyeballs nearly popped out. It

was unbelievable to them how a powerful expert like the black-armored

general was actually kowtowing to Zu An. They would have never

imagined this to be possible.

Chu Chuyan fell into deep thought. The black-armored general had

identified himself as the Chamberlain of Palace Revenue, which was one of

the Nine Ministers. He was in charge of collecting land taxes and managing

the imperial family’s vault. He was also responsible for maintaining the

imperial garden, imperial chambers, and all building-related matters.

That would explain why the black-armored general was so powerful. It

turned out that it was a ninth rank cultivator. This would also explain why

this place resembled the mausoleum of the imperial family.

But what is happening with Ah Zu? Is he really that Ying Zheng he claims

himself to be?

“How long are you going to continue holding me hostage?” said Zu An

coldly.

“I dare not to!” Zhang Han quickly released the bindings around Zu An as it

wondered why the emperor had turned so weak.

Having guessed its thoughts, Zu An added, “I’ve only just regained my

memories. I haven’t regained my strength yet. You may rise.”

Zhang Han nodded in realization, satisfied with the explanation. “Thank

you, Your Majesty. It looks like Xu Fu has successfully found the art of

longevity for Your Majesty. Congratulations, Your Majesty! Long live Your

Majesty!”

Zu An was dumbfounded.

Wow, this is really queer. It’s exactly as what I’ve heard about the Qin

Dynasty in my previous life… but did the Qin Dynasty in my previous life

have such formidable cultivators too?

Something must be wrong here!

However, since he had already begun the act, there was no choice but to see

it through to the end. So, he sighed deeply and said, “What’s the point? My

Great Qin Dynasty has already fallen!”

Zhang Han quickly kneeled onto the ground frightfully and cried out, “I

deserve death for my incompetence!”

1. The distinction is made between the Qin Country and Qin Dynasty.

Before the Qin Country united the Central Plains and formed its own

empire, it had kings and queens. It’s only after the unification that emperors

and empresses came to be.

2. They are mythological rulers of ancient China. Qin Shihuang believed

that he’s above them, which is why he put the two words together to

highlight his high standing.

3. Qin Shihuang is his title, which means Founding Emperor of Qin,

whereas Ying Zheng is his birth name.

Chapter 168: The Undead Army

Zu An was surprised, not expecting his words to frighten the other party so

much. He made use of this opportunity to ask, “What’s your crime?”

Zhang Han’s face tremored amidst the black mist, as if tears were streaming

down his face. “Even though I was able to hold on for a moment, the

empire’s elite forces were still wiped out under his leadership. I was the one

who ruined the final hope of the empire, resulting in it being destroyed by

the remnants of the Six Eastern Countries[1].”

The history was indeed no different from what Zu An remembered. Fearing

that he would agitate Zhang Han, he chose not to probe any further. Instead,

he heaved a deep sigh and lamented, “Such is life. There’s little that a man

can do before heaven’s will.”

Zhang Han was taken aback. He remembered the emperor he remembered

was a strong-willed and austere figure, so the other party’s gentle attitude

caught him off guard.

Zu An turned to gaze at the lake and asked, “What’s sealed in there to make

you so frightened?”

This was what he was so frightened about. He wasn’t too worried about

giving himself away with that question since Zhang Han was mostly active

in Qin Ershi’s era, so it was only normal for Qin Shihuang to not know of

his affairs.

“It’s the dead spirits of the hundreds of thousands of rebels from the Six

Countries. We’ve used the Soul Suppression Seal to seal them in the lake

thus far, but I didn’t expect Your Majesty to…”

“Then we have to make sure to seal it well. The armies of the Six Countries

bear a great grudge against our Great Qin. It’ll alarm my empress if they

rush out.”

Those words made the blue flames in Zhang Han’s eye sockets flicker a bit,

but he didn’t say a word.

“My subordinate, is there no other way to suppress these dead spirits?” Zu

An gestured toward Chu Chuyan. “She’s a friend I’ve made in this

generation. Spare her.”

“Your Majesty, these dead spirits have been sealed using the Evanescent

Lotus as the formation core over the past thousands of years. Now that the

formation core has disappeared, the Soul Suppression Formation’s collapse

is imminent. We have to use her flesh to appease the raging dead spirits

before she fully assimilates the medicinal properties of the Evanescent

Lotus so that we have more time to think of another way to reinforce the

seal!

“The empire should take priority! Your Majesty, please rethink your

decision!”

Zu An was frustrated to hear Zhang Han insisting on using Chu Chuyan’s

blood as a tribute. He was, after all, not Qin Shihuang, and there was a huge

disparity in their strength. There was nothing he could do if the other party

insisted on not listening to him.

“However, we can release this woman and have her serve Your Majesty.”

Zhang Han pulled Qiao Xueying over with a grasp and pushed her down

before Zu An.

Qiao Xueying struggled, but how could she possibly be able to overpower

Zhang Han?

Looking at the indignant woman kneeling before him, Zu An was a little

amused. “Why don’t you try calling me master?”

“Pui!” Qiao Xueying spat at Zu An, but her saliva was blocked off by

Zhang Han.

“How dare you offend Your Majesty? Die!” Zhang Han roared coldly as his

black aura intensified.

“Forget it, I’ll spare her life. She’s still somewhat a friend of mine.” Zu An

hurriedly stopped him.

“Friend?” There was a hint of disdain in Zhang Han’s voice.

Zu An’s heart skipped a beat. He could sense that the latter’s tone wasn’t as

respectful as it was before. Could he be sounding me out? What the hell!

Are zombies supposed to be that intelligent?

All of a sudden, effervescence suddenly sounded from the lake. The surface

of the water was bubbling furiously, threatening to push through the black

mist on the surface. There were numerous blue figures which appeared to

be struggling free of the lake.

These blue figures were dressed in armor and wielded sharp sabers. They

looked like elite soldiers.

Zhang Han was alarmed. His black steed had silently manifested by his

side, and he swiftly hopped onto it and rushed toward the lake.

At the same time, the terracotta soldiers also raised their weapons and

charged toward the lake.

In just a few moments, over a hundred translucent blue soldiers had rushed

out from the lake. Unlike the zombie soldiers, they didn’t have corporeal

bodies. They looked more like just souls.

When they saw Zhang Han, they began howling furiously at them. Even

though it was hard to discern their voices, their tones were more than

enough to reveal the deep-seated hatred they bore for him.

They swiftly got into formation before charging toward Zhang Han.

“Am I seeing things?” Zu An rubbed his eyes in confusion. He felt that the

formations both armies were taking looked oddly similar.

However, he knew that this was no time for his thoughts to be wandering.

He quickly rushed toward the stone table at the center of the altar, intending

to use this opportunity to save Chu Chuyan and take her away.

Qiao Xueying bit her lips as she ran together with him too, clearly hoping to

save Chu Chuyan too.

“You saved me previously, and I’ve returned the favor now. You can call it

equals,” said Zu An.

“Thanks,” replied Qiao Xueying softly. But soon after, she harrumphed,

“But I saved you twice previously If we really count it carefully, you still

owe me once.”

“…” Zu An.

This woman sure doesn’t give in!

Not wanting to bicker with her now, he turned his attention to untying the

black rope tying Chu Chuyan down to the stone table. To his astonishment,

even though the black rope didn’t appear to be tangible, it was more

resilient than any other material he had come by.

He even tried using Poisonous Prick on it, but it was to no avail.

“Step aside!” Qiao Xueying formed a hand seal, and countless green leaves

began revolving around her body. With daggerlike sharpness, they darted

toward the black rope.

Unfortunately, as soon as the crisp, green leaves came into contact with the

black rope, they quickly began to wither. Qiao Xueying tried it for a few

more times, but the black rope simply wouldn’t budge. Instead, she only

ended up depleting the ki she had barely regained by half.

“This rope is made out of the zombie general’s death aura. There’s too big

of a difference between your cultivation ranks, so you won’t be able to

sever it,” said Chu Chuyan. “You should hurry up and leave. There’s no

need to bother with me.”

However, Zu An shook his head and said, “You’re my wife, so how can I

abandon you? Besides, I even fed you the Evanescent Lotus! If I don’t save

you here, I’d be making a huge loss!”

Chu Chuyan was rendered speechless. She was still pretty moved a moment

ago, but in the next moment, Zu An went back to being Zu An.

“Didn’t that fellow kneel down to you earlier? Hurry up and order him to

free the young miss!” exclaimed Qiao Xueying.

Zu An rolled his eyes. “Are you blind? Didn’t you see me ordering him to

free her earlier?”

Qiao Xueying turned to look at the lake, where Zhang Han was fighting

against the blue warrior spirits, and bit her lips in anxiety. “What do we do

then? By the time he finishes dealing with those dead spirits, he would

surely return to activate the blood tribute!”

Zu An was also put on a spot. The absolute power difference left him very

little room to maneuver in this situation.

“I’ll take a more forceful attitude later on. Hopefully, he’ll be intimidated

and back down.” Given the circumstances, he could only try to pull

something with his identity as Qin Shihuang,

“Hmph, childish!” a feminine voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

“You’re finally back!” Zu An gritted his teeth in fury. Ultimately, all of this

trouble stemmed from this woman.

“Who are you talking to?” Qiao Xueying and Chu Chuyan asked in

bewilderment.

Zu An was taken aback to hear those words. Can’t the two of them hear this

woman’s voice?

“Did you think that Zhang Han really believes that you’re Ying Zheng?

Once he’s done dealing with those dead spirits, not only will that woman

die, you won’t fare any better either!” remarked the feminine voice coldly.

1. The Qin Dynasty annexed the Six Countries, which are the main powers

of the Central Plains then, but there were still constant revolts, especially

when Qin Ershi, the son of Qin Shihuang, took over. He committed a lot of

atrocities that forced lots of people to rise up and declare themselves

‘independent states’.

Chapter 169: Ancient Secrets

“Nonsense! If he doesn’t believe me, why would he kneel to me…” Zu An

suddenly snapped out of it. “Wait a moment, I nearly got led by the nose.

What can he possibly do to me? I’m the First Sovereign Emperor, Ying

Zheng!”

“…” The feminine voice.

“You’re still going to continue that act?” sneered the feminine voice. “Do

you know who I am then?”

“You are…” Zu An was just about to reply when he suddenly remembered

his role and quickly corrected himself, “You are my wife, the empress of the

Qin Dynasty?”

“…” The feminine voice.

“Then shouldn’t you know better than to talk nonsense in my presence?”

Zu An scratched his head sheepishly. “What can I say? I just regained my

memory after all. There are many things that I still don’t remember…”

“Shut up! How could I possibly not recognize my own husband? Don’t

bother trying to use that nonsense you fooled Zhang Han with on me!”

sneered the feminine voice. “Besides, you didn’t even fool Zhang Han at

all.”

“What do you mean?” Zu An remembered the other party saying something

similar to that previously. Did Zhang Han really see through me?

“You made three mistakes before Zhang Han earlier,” said the feminine

voice. “First, Ying Zheng is a vicious tyrant who knows no compassion. If

he really comes back to life and learns that Zhang Han has sent the main

army of the Great Qin to its grave, there’s no way he would spare that man

that easily.”

“I’m still weak from having just regained my memories. There shouldn’t be

anything wrong with me trying to placate him for the time being.” Zu An

felt that he was getting more and more immersed in the act.

“There’s nothing wrong with trying to placate him, but your words are too

childish. You remarked earlier that ‘Such is life. There’s little that a man

can do before heaven’s will’, but that’s not Ying Zheng’s personality. Ying

Zheng believes that his merit surpasses that of the Three Sovereigns and

Five Emperors, and he sees himself as an existence on par with the sun and

the moon. How could he possibly bow down to life or heaven?” scoffed the

feminine voice.

Zu An fell silent. He was a keyboard warrior after all. He might be able to

dominate the online community, but feigning the First Sovereign Emperor

without any practice beforehand was clearly beyond his means.

“The second error you made is to claim that the ponytail girl is your friend,”

said the feminine voice.

“What’s the problem with that?” asked Zu An in confusion.

“Ying Zheng is an arrogant person. He wouldn’t allow anyone to be on the

same standing as him, let alone have any friends. You could have called the

woman your subordinate, servant, or even plaything, and Zhang Han would

have spared her. Yet, you chose to address her as your friend,” explained the

feminine voice.

Zu An nodded in realization. That would explain why Zhang Han’s tone

changed after that. However, unwilling to give up just like that, he tried to

argue, “Hmph! I’m already a new man after having lived a new life. What’s

wrong with me having a new personality? How could he be so certain that

I’m a fake from all that?”

“How could a person’s personality change that much? Besides, you still

have an even more fatal error aside from those two,” said the feminine

voice.

“What is it?” Zu An’s heart skipped a beat.

“You mentioned that you’re worried that those dead spirits will alarm me if

they manage to rush out from the lake?” The feminine voice was filled with

ridicule when she said those words.

“Is there something wrong with that?” Zu An was confused.

Instead of answering the question directly, the feminine voice asked, “Do

you know who those undead spirits are?”

“Aren’t they the dead souls of the revolutionaries from the Six Eastern

Countries?” asked Zu An.

“Hahaha! If you wish to act as Ying Zheng, you shouldn’t trust the words of

others that easily!” The feminine voice laughed chillingly. “Those dead

spirits aren’t the revolutionaries of the Six Eastern Countries but the

200,000 soldiers that formed the core army of the Qin Dynasty!”

“What?!” Zu An was shocked.

“Back then, Zhang Han, as the Chamberlain of Palace Revenue, was in

charge of supervising the prisoners at Mount Li for the construction of the

imperial mausoleum. The world was in disarray then, and the Qin Dynasty

was at threat. He led the prisoners of Mount Li to defeat the invading

revolutionary armies. In view of his contribution, the imperial court began

supplying him with more and more soldiers, eventually entrusting the core

army to him.

“Zhang Han was indeed fairly capable. With his skills, he suppressed the

enemies and nearly quelled the revolution. However, a formidable figure

emerged then… In the Battle of Julu, both he and Wang Li were defeated by

the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, Xiang Yu[1], and he suffered yet

another defeat in the Battle of Zhangwu too. On top of that, he’s also on bad

terms with Zhao Gao[2]. Out of fear that he would be killed, he chose to

side with Xiang Yu, so he led the 200,000 elite soldiers of the Qin Dynasty

on a losing battle against Xiang Yu.

“The ones sealed under the lake are the dead spirits of the 200,000 elite

soldiers of the Qin Dynasty.”

Zu An was alarmed. It was no wonder why those dead spirits were filled

with hatred for Zhang Han… It turned out that they were betrayed by him!

“So, they wouldn’t alarm you because they are Qin soldiers?” Zu An

analyzed where he had gone wrong.

“No. It’s because Ying Zheng wouldn’t worry about that,” replied the

feminine voice.

“???” Zu An was bewildered.

What’s wrong with you and your cliffhangers? Can’t you just finish your

sentence properly in one go? Don’t you know how tiring it’s me to keep

cueing you to continue on?

“Do you know what Zhang Han was doing before he led the soldiers to

suppress the revolutionaries?”

“Didn’t you mention earlier that he was the Chamberlain of Palace

Revenue, in charge of building the imperial mausoleum or something?”

replied Zu An.

“To be more exact, he wasn’t building the imperial mausoleum but the

empress’ mausoleum,” replied the feminine voice.

“Empress’ mausoleum?” Zu An was stunned. “Is there such a thing? I don’t

recall there being such a thing in historical records. In fact, there’s nothing

about Qin Shihuang’s empress at all.”

“That’s because Ying Zheng destroyed all of my records, just like how he

torched all of the Confucian books,” replied the feminine voice. “Since you

have some understanding of this piece of history, you should be able to

guess my origin from my surname.”

“You’re a princess of the Chu Country?” asked Zu An.

“Indeed, I’m from the Chu Country. Due to my position as the empress,

there are many nobles from Chu who have a high standing in the Qin

Country too. At the start, our interests were aligned with Ying Zheng, so we

helped him rule the country and even suppress all of the rebellions going

on.

“Unfortunately, the Qin was ambitious and wanted to rule over the world.

The Chu stood in its way too, which resulted in an irreconcilable conflict

between us. My uncle is Lord Changping, Xiong Qi, and he even became

the prime minister of the Qin Country. However, as a citizen of our Chu, his

heart still lies with our country. So, when the Qin first raised its arms to

invade the Chu, my uncle rallied his soldiers and rebelled, resulting in the

worst defeat the Qin has suffered ever since it embarked on its ambitious

conquest.

“Ying Zheng was infuriated with us. He entrusted 600,000 soldiers to Wang

Jian[3] and tasked him to eliminate the Chu while clearing away all of

Chu’s influence in the Qin. As the princess of the Chu Country, I’m

naturally one of the first ones to be hit hard.

“I was soon removed from my position, and all of the nobles from the Chu

in Qin are slaughtered too. Even my son, Fusu, due to having the Chu

bloodline running through his veins, lost his right to succession and was

exiled to the border to build the great wall…”

Zu An was taken aback. “Fusu is your son?”

“Is there anything wrong about it?” Mi Li’s voice suddenly turned chillingly

sharp.

“No no, of course not. There isn’t anything wrong here…” replied Zu An

sheepishly. He was still imagining her to be a beautiful and graceful big

sister type woman, but all of a sudden, she turned into an auntie who

already had a child. It broke the immersion of his fantasy.

He finally came to a realization. There was actually a lot of contention

surrounding the succession to the throne after Qin Shihuang in his previous

world. Many people believed that Fusu, as the eldest son, should have

donned the crown, just that Huhai[4], Li Si, and Zhao Gao schemed to steal

the throne, killing Fusu through their ploys.

Even so, historians still couldn’t understand why Qin Shihuang dispatched

his eldest son, Fusu, away from the center of politics over to the border.

Some claimed that he was intending to temper Fusu and have him build a

good relationship with the Meng clan[5] and the military so as to prepare

for his succession. There were also some who said that this was simply an

act of exiling Fusu.

However, as it turned out, Fusu had simply lost his right to succession due

to his mother’s bloodline!

“Ying Zheng had always hated women due to his mother’s adultery with

Lao Ai, and the tragic defeat the Qin suffered to the Chu further fanned his

hatred toward me. Unsatisfied with just stripping me of my position, he

ordered Zhang Han to construct this mausoleum to seal me off lest I seek

vengeance on him in the future. So, if you were truly Ying Zheng, why

would you care about those soldiers alarming me?” scoffed Mi Li.

Zu An finally understood where it all went wrong. Goddamnit, why does

the circle of nobility has to be so messed up?!

“Wait a moment, auntie. I have a question…”

“What did you call me?” There was a hint of fury in Mi Li’s voice.

Zu An was rendered speechless. You already have a child, but you still

don’t want people to call you auntie? What should I call you instead? Lil’

sis?

Despite his internal retorts, he was a flexible man and quickly changed his

tune, “Big Sis Empress, based on the history I know, Qin Shihuang and

Zhang Han should have been ordinary mortals. They shouldn’t have

possessed such mystical powers. Yet, Zhang Han turned into an

indestructible zombie and possesses great power, and big sis, you seem to

have lived for thousands of years now, becoming something that’s neither

living nor dead…

“I want to know what happened to you all. Why would you be brought over

from Earth to this world of cultivation, and where did you learn these

abilities?”

Mi Li was bewildered. “Earth? I don’t get what you’re saying. We’ve

always been in this world, and our abilities are of course things that we

slowly grasped over time. If not for Zhang Han’s strength, how could he

have possibly become the Chamberlain of Palace Revenue, one of the Nine

Ministers?

“As Zhang Han’s current state, that’s because he cultivated a certain dark

element cultivation technique, offering his own physical body up in order to

attain eternal life.”

Zu An was baffled. “You have always been in this world?”

The confirmation left him extremely confused. It seemed like a huge

coincidence that this world had the same dynasties and events as his

previous one, the only difference being the existence of supernatural

abilities.

Is this like a parallel world, just that it’s mixed with an additional element

called cultivation?

Putting together what he knew thus far, he deduced that something major

might have happened in this world after the Qing Dynasty[6], resulting in a

huge gap in civilization. It was only a long time later before civilization

began to resurface.

The new civilization had not only humans but all sorts of lifeforms. In the

battle for resources, all sorts of wars broke out. Eventually, the first emperor

of the Great Zhou Dynasty managed to rise up on top and achieve victory

for mankind, driving all of the foreign races off to the borders to suffer.

As for all of the dynasties prior to the huge gap in civilization, the people in

this world collectively termed them as the ‘ancient era’.

It was then that Mi Li’s voice suddenly broke his train of thought. “You

have too many questions. Hurry up and make your decision. Once Zhang

Han finishes curbing the escaping dead spirits, it’ll be the end of you and

those two women.”

1. Xiang Yu is a famous figure in the final years of the Qin Dynasty. He was

the de facto chief of the rebels, and he defeated the armies of the Qin

Dynasty battle after battle. Unfortunately, he later lost to Liu Bang, who

then moved on to establish the Han Dynasty.

2. Zhao Gao is a eunuch official who is known to be very influential in the

Qin Dynasty due to him being deeply trusted by Qin Ershi, which, in turn,

gave him the power to do as he pleased.

3. He’s one of the renowned generals of the Qin Country back then

4. This is the birth name of Qin Ershi, the eventual successor to Qin

Shihuang

5. The Meng clan is the closest aide to Qin Shihuang. The Great Wall was

by the borders, guarded by the Meng clan, which was also why people

thought that Fusu was there to win the Meng clan over to his side and build

up his influence.

6. This is the final dynasty of China before World War II broke out

Chapter 170: Cold Sweat

Zu An finally snapped out of it. “What decision?”

“Help me break free of my seal. I’m the only one who can deal with Zhang

Han here.” There was a hint of majesty in Mi Li’s voice.

“Oh~” Zu An finally came to a realization. “So, you lured me to pluck that

Evanescent Lotus in order to create a distraction with those dead spirits so

that you can make use of this opportunity to flee, is that it?”

“Is there a problem here? It’s only normal to make use of all resources in

one’s possession,” replied Mi Li.

“Since you’re that formidable, why don’t you break free of your own seal to

deal with Zhang Han? Why must you go about it in such a roundabout

manner?” retorted Zu An.

“Ignorant! This seal was constructed by Ying Zheng using the power of his

dynasty! How could it be broken that easily?”

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +233 Rage!

“But I don’t know whether what you said is true or not, and based on what

I’ve heard, you’re even more terrifying than Zhang Han. In my opinion,

those who need to be sealed off are usually the most tyrannical villains. If

you’re actually a bad person, wouldn’t I be placing myself into greater

danger by saving you?”

Despite Zu An’s words, he was already more or less convinced by Mi Li by

now. After all, all of the details she provided fitted in with the history he

knew.

“What about the 200,000 Qin soldiers who are innocently killed and sealed

under the lake? Do you think that they’re tyrannical villains?”

Zu An was rendered speechless.

“Besides, you don’t have any choice. Once Zhang Han finishes dealing with

those dead spirits, that woman over there will be killed without a shred of

doubt.” Mi Li continued pushing her point on.

Meanwhile, Chu Chuyan and Qiao Xueying were baffled to see how Zu An

was talking to himself, only to jolt in astonishment when a mysterious

feminine voice suddenly sounded in their ears.

“W-who is talking?” Qiao Xueying scanned her surroundings warily.

Chu Chuyan was alarmed too, but she felt that this voice sounded familiar.

She had a vague impression of hearing it in her semi-conscious state earlier

on.

“Stop looking around. You won’t be able to find her. You can think of her as

the owner of this ancient mausoleum,” explained Zu An.

“The owner of this mausoleum…” Qiao Xueying’s face paled. If even the

general was strong enough to plunge them into despair, she couldn’t fathom

just how powerful the owner would be.

“Ah Zu, don’t agree to her request for my sake. There’s already no point in

me living on in my current state. You should quickly escape with Snow

instead.” The sharp-witted Chu Chuyan figured out right away that the

feminine voice was trying to spur Zu An into doing something by using her

plight as bait.

At the same time, she also realized that it was futile to persuade Zu An here.

She had said such words innumerable times along the way, only to no avail.

So, she quickly turned to Qiao Xueying and said, “Snow, in view that I’ve

treated you well over the years, hurry up and take Ah Zu away! Otherwise,

it’ll be too late once the black-armored general returns!”

Qiao Xueying was hesitant. She couldn’t bring herself to abandon Chu

Chuyan, but her logical mind was telling her that she couldn’t do anything

here anyway. After all, they couldn’t even break the rope tying Chu Chuyan

down.

“Hurry up and leave!” shouted Chu Chuyan anxiously.

Qiao Xueying bit her lips. She decided to abide by the young miss’ wishes

and flee with Zu An. However, at that very moment, the feminine voice

sounded once more, “You feel that it’s meaningless for you to live on

because you used a forbidden art and ended up devastating your ki

meridians, turning into a cripple. I have a way to make you recover and

even rise to a higher level.”

Chu Chuyan was stunned. One must know that she had always been a lofty

figure in Brightmoon City, and losing her cultivation was a huge blow to

her. There was no doubt that Mi Li’s offer was extremely tempting to her,

but she eventually chose to turn it down. “There’s no need for that. Snow,

hurry up and take Ah Zu away!”

However, Zu An asked deeply, “Do you really have a way to make her

recover?”

“Of course!” replied Mi Li proudly.

“What is it?”

“Do you take me for a fool? How could I possibly tell you right now?” Mi

Li snapped impatiently.

“Very well, I’ll agree to your request. I’ll unseal you, but in return, you

must save her.”

With things already coming to this point, he decided to gamble once more.

Chu Chuyan was horrified to hear that. “Ah Zu, calm down and don’t listen

to her trickery. Snow, what are you doing? Why aren’t you taking him

away?!”

Qiao Xueying shook her head and said, “Young miss, even though I’m not

fond of Zu An, I have to admit that he really has guts this time around. This

is a rare chance for your recovery; it’s worth taking this bit of risk. At most,

we’ll just die together.”

I don’t really want to live anymore anyway… And as for Zu An, his

existence itself is a plague to the world. His death would be a blessing to all

living beings! Hmph!

Seeing that the two of them had made up their minds, Chu Chuyan knew

that she wouldn’t be able to talk them out of it. She was touched by their

gesture, but she wasn’t the type to say any sentimental words.

“What does it take to remove your seal? Do I just have to pluck out a

talisman or something?” asked Zu An.

“How could it be that easy?” replied Mi Li. “Back, in order to seal me, Ying

Zheng set up this Soul Suppression Seal in order to ensure that I’ll never

able to reincarnate. Zhang Han was the supervisor of this mausoleum, so he

knows how powerful the formation is. So, he, together with Xiang Yu,

made use of the power of this formation and the Evanescent Lotus to

construct a pseudo Soul Suppression Seal to curb the 200,000 dead spirits.

“The pseudo Soul Suppression Seal is, after all, a fake, so you were able to

release it easily just by plucking out the Evanescent Lotus. However, the

one that has sealed me off is different. If you wish to remove the seal, you’ll

have to destroy the seal’s Human Seal, Earth Seal, and Heaven Seal.”

Zu An was amazed. “Wow, you sure lived a tragic life. Aren’t the two of

you a couple? Looks like he really hates you a lot.”

“Shut your mouth!” Mi Li’s tone was quite sharp. Zu An’s words had

dredged up some of the terrible memories in her mind.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +250 Rage!

“How am I going to help you without speaking?” Zu An harrumphed. Is

this the attitude someone asking for a favor should have? “What are those

seals you speak of, and how can they be released?”

Mi Li fell silent for a long while before she said awkwardly, “I… don’t

know.”

“???” Zu An.

“Big sis, you don’t even know what the seals are and how they can be

broken? Are you toying with me here?” Zu An was frustrated.

Mi Li was equally frustrated too. “Do you have no brain? Who in the world

would let the person they are sealing know the way to overcome the seal?”

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +66 Rage!

Zu An was amused by the small amount of Rage points he had just

received. Looks like she’s feeling a little embarrassed about this too.

“If I really want to deal with an enemy, I wouldn’t go through the trouble

just to seal him; I’d have just killed him outright. Speaking of which, isn’t it

weird that he went through so much trouble just to keep you down here?

Isn’t it much easier to just kill you to end things there?” asked Zu An.

“Who said he didn’t kill me?” replied Mi Li.

Zu An felt a chill ran down his back. A sudden realization struck him,

causing his tone to become much more courteous than before. “That means

that you’re currently…”

Chapter 171: Human Seal

“Why don’t you give it a guess?” There was a teasing edge to Mi Li’s

guess.

“I don’t want to,” replied Zu An. Please, an auntie who already bore a child

like you should stop acting cutesy here. Though, it was not as if he would

really dare to say those words aloud.

“You’ll know once you save me,” said Mi Li. “Zhang Han has already

claimed the upper ground there. It won’t be long before he returns. Are you

sure you want to continue discussing this with me here?”

“Then you should at least tell me how I should release the Heaven, Earth,

and Human Seal, no?” replied Zu An. Surely you should know that, right?

“Look ahead of you. You should see a passageway behind the altar. Walk to

the end of it, and you’ll see a formation. As long as you stand on the

formation, you’ll be able to trigger the Human Seal. If you can undo the

Human Seal, the formation will automatically trigger the Earth Seal, and

finally the Heaven Seal.

“I’m not sure what you’ll encounter in each seal, but if one thing is for sure,

you’ll meet with great danger. There’s a good chance that you might end up

losing your life. If you wish to back down, there’s still time for you to do

so.”

Zu An shot a glance at Chu Chuyan and said, “Why would I regret saving a

person I treasure?”

Redness crept onto Chu Chuyan’s fair complexion upon hearing those

words. Too embarrassed to look him in the eye, she quickly averted her

gaze. There were actually many things bottling in her heart that she wanted

to voice out, but she suddenly found herself at a loss for words.

Meanwhile, Qiao Xueying alternated her gaze between Chu Chuyan and Zu

An before sighing deeply in her heart.

Zu An grasped Chu Chuyan’s hand and said, “Honey, I’ll be undoing the

seal now. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely find a way to rescue you. If I end up

losing my life in there, you mustn’t marry another man, or else I won’t be

able to rest in peace.”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

This fellow really is as hateful as ever.

Chu Chuyan was still moved by this touching scene a moment ago when the

mood suddenly shattered under Zu An’s remark. “I would die too if you

lose your life inside. How would I be able to marry another man?”

“But what if some powerful sword immortal or something descends from

the sky and saves you from Zhang Han’s grasp? I mean, that’s how it’s

always written in books!”

Chu Chuyan’s face immediately turned scarlet red. “You saw my book that

day!”

He lied to me saying that he saw nothing at all! Just thinking about how that

embarrassing book title was seen by another person made her feel so

ashamed that she wanted to dig hole and bury herself in.

Zu An burst into laughter before walking toward the passageway where the

Human Seal was. As he walked away, he raised his hand and waved it as an

expression of farewell to her.

“Ah Zu!” Chu Chuyan suddenly called out.

Delighted, Zu An turned around, expecting to hear words like ‘I’ll surely

wait for you to come back. If you don’t, I’ll live my life as a widow’. Ah,

looks like my sacrifice wasn’t in vain after all.

Unexpectedly, things didn’t proceed in the direction he expected.

“Ah Zu, if you dare die in there, I’ll immediately marry another man!”

shouted Chu Chuyan.

Qiao Xueying was flabbergasted. What’s wrong with the young miss?

Then, Chu Chuyan quickly added, “So, you must come back alive!”

Zu An was initially feeling a little stifled by those words, but upon hearing

her change in tone, his mood cleared up, and he replied heartily, “Roger

that!”

Qiao Xueying bit her lips. Damn it, the young miss has been led astray by

that fellow!

Zu An slowly headed deeper into the passageway. Unlike the underground

passageway he passed by earlier, this passageway was clearly much more

exquisite. Be it the floor or the walls by the side, they were all elaborately

carved into beautiful artworks.

There were all kinds of animal sculptures placed by the sides of the

passageway. Taking a brief look, Zu An could see pairs of leaping horses,

crouching tigers, proning elephants, wild boars, stonefishes, bears, lions,

panthers, camels, qilins, and so on. There were also some animals which he

didn’t recognize, and he wondered if they were mythological beasts or

creatures unique to this world.

Every few meters, he would see a copper maid sculpture gilded in gold. The

sculpture was sitting in a kneeling position, holding up a lantern. Its posture

was elegant, resembling the sculpture of ‘Changxin’s Palace Lantern’ he

had seen in a museum in his previous life.

After advancing for around a hundred meters, he finally came to a halt

outside a stone chamber. He noticed that the stone chamber had an

incredibly elaborate formation constructed around it, and at the very center

of the intricate patterns was the character, human ().

This was likely to be the Human Seal he had heard about from Mi Li. He

was just about to activate it using the method he had just learned from her

when he suddenly heard footsteps. He turned around, only to see a willowy

woman standing right behind him.

“Hm? What are you doing here?”

The willowy woman was no other than Qiao Xueying.

“It’s meaningless for me to remain by the young miss’ side. Since I can’t

release her from the black rope or protect her from the black-armored

general, I might as well come with you and see if I can be of any help.

Besides, I doubt that a third rank cultivator like you to break the seal all by

yourself,” replied Qiao Xueying.

“I sure do wonder why the world put a decent-looking face on you, only to

ruin it with a vile mouth,” retorted Zu An.

Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes. “The same goes for you too.”

Despite their bickering, Zu An was still glad to have another person’s help.

An additional pair of helping hands meant a higher chance of breaking the

seals.

QIao Xueying took out a couple of recovery medicine and ki pills and

swallowed them. She hesitated for a moment before passing a set to Zu An

too. “Do you need it?”

Despite the differences they had, they were somewhat standing on the same

front right now. It was only right for her to share her resources with him

too.

Zu An shook his head. He felt that he was in the perfect state at the

moment. If he really recovered from his injuries, the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra

would lose its effects right away.

“Forget it then,” replied Qiao Xueying with a pout. She thought that Zu An

was throwing a tantrum with her, so she decided to ignore him too.

The two of them walked to the corner of the formation. Zu An stretched his

hand over and said, “Give me your hand.”

“What?” Qiao Xueying was perplexed as to what Zu An was up to, but she

still handed her hand over obediently.

Unexpectedly, she found her hand being grasped by a warm and firm grip

right after. She immediately frowned at the abrupt physical contact. She was

just about to blow her top when Zu An explained his action, “Mi Li

mentioned earlier that we’ll be teleported into another space once we trigger

the seal. We should keep our hands together so as to avoid getting

teleported into different locations.”

He wasn’t certain how this teleportation formation worked, after all. He had

played plenty of games in his previous life to know that there was

something called ‘random teleportation’. If they were to be teleported into

different locations, it could pose a great deal of trouble trying to meet up

with one another.

“Are you sure you aren’t just trying to take advantage of me?” Qiao

Xueying eyed their linked hands with a look of skepticism on her face. She

wasn’t used to being in physical contact with other men, let alone this

hateful fellow.

“You’re doubting that I’d take advantage of you?” scoffed Zu An. “Please!

My wife is the number one beauty of Brightmoon City! Do you think that I

would choose a washboard without breasts and bum like you over her?”

“Who are you saying is a washboard?” bellowed Qiao Xueying with gritted

teeth. To think that my perception of him actually improved a little earlier

on. Tsk! Looks like a leopard can’t change its spots. He’s still as hateful as

ever!

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +468 Rage!

She lowered her head to look at her own breasts. Fine, it’s not very big, but

it isn’t small either! Besides, you’re saying that my bum is small? You must

be blind!

Just thinking about this matter was enough to make blood surge into her

head. She was just about to blow up once more when Zu An pulled her into

the middle of the formation. There was a mysterious outburst of light, and

their visions suddenly blurred. For a moment, there was a sudden feeling of

weightlessness, as if they had fallen into a hole.

By the time they snapped out of it, they realized that their surroundings had

brightened up. They were no longer in the dingy underground palace but a

grand city. There were towering city walls and grand city gates right before

their eyes, emanating an air of ancient majesty.

“Holy shit, how in the world is it this big?!” exclaimed Zu An.

Qiao Xueying’s face reddened.

This pervert. Staring at a person’s breasts. Hm? Wait a moment, how could

there be a big-breasted woman inside the seal?

She quickly raised her head to take a look, but there was no one in her line

of sight aside from Zu An. It was then that she noticed that he was looking

at the sky, so she quickly followed his line of sight, only to freeze up in the

next moment.

Right before the city gates stood twelve humongous copper giants gleaming

with a golden light. They stood in two rows before the city gates, facing one

another. They were already ten meters tall in a sitting position, and their feet

looked to be at least two meters long. Their very presence felt incredibly

intimidating.

Qiao Xueying subconsciously leaned a little closer to Zu An before her

heart would calm down a little. “How do we break this seal?”

Zu An pondered for a moment before replying, “Since it’s called the Human

Seal, it should be safe to assume that it has something to do with humans. I

don’t see any signs of humans in the surroundings surroundings though…

Do we have to enter the city in order to trigger the event?”

Qiao Xueying contemplated for a moment before nodding in agreement.

“Let’s enter the city to take a look then.”

Judging from the tremendous height and span of the city walls, they could

already imagine just how prosperous the city would be.

However, when they finally walked up to the city gates, they realized that

they couldn’t open it no matter how they pushed.

One must know that Zu An’s strength was at least half a ton now, which

should have been more than enough to open this city gate. Yet, despite the

two of them exerting their forces in unison, the city gate wasn’t budging at

all. They tried knocking too, but there was no response.

“Let me try flipping over the city wall to take a look.”

Qiao Xueying took several steps back before running forward and leaping

upward toward the top of the city wall.

While fifth rank cultivators were still incapable of flight, they could easily

cover great distances with their leaps, reminiscent of the qinggong[1] often

seen in wuxia novels. Considering how she had even built up some

momentum before her leap, she should have been able to easily get to the

top of the city wall.

Yet, to her surprise, she realized that she was only able to reach half of the

height of the city wall even at the highest point of her leap.

So, she tapped her foot on the side of the city wall to make a second leap.

At the same time, a vine shot forth from her sleeves to head for the top of

the city walls.

But to her astonishment, the city walls suddenly grew even taller, resulting

in her constantly being stuck at the halfway point of the city walls no matter

how high she tried to climb.

In the end, she could only give up and leap back down. “There’s something

amiss about this city wall.”

Zu An had also witnessed the shocking sight earlier, so he understood what

she was referring to. He took a moment to think things through before

suggesting, “Should we try ramming the city gate down?”

With their combined strength, they should be able to exert a force

comparable to those ancient battering rams commonly used for fortress

sieges.

“Shoo, I’ll do it!”

After her earlier failure, Qiao Xueying was anxious to restore her reputation

before Zu An. Her hair began to flutter along with the wind, growing longer

and longer before abruptly darting toward the city gates.

Zu An had personally tasted the prowess of her ‘hair whips’ before. It was

powerful enough to even tear apart the walls of his residence as if they were

made of paper. Given her prowess, it should be more than enough to smash

a hole into the city gate.

But unexpectedly, when her hair finally rammed onto the city gates, a

resounding ‘bam’ echoed, but the city gates still wasn’t budging at all..

“Hm?” Qiao Xueying was stunned.

Unwilling to accept the outcome, she wanted to give it another try, only to

be stopped by Zu An. “Stop. Look behind you.”

Qiao Xueying quickly turned around, only for goosebumps to rise all over

her arms. The twelve copper giants who were standing in two rows facing

one another earlier had all turned their gazes toward them.

These copper giants started rising to their feet, their height growing to over

twenty meters in height. With huge strides, they began making their way

toward the two of them.

The ground shuddered under their heavy footsteps, as if an earthquake was

currently rattling the earth. Zu An gulped fearfully as he remarked, “Bloody

hell… Are copper giants considered ‘humans’ too?”

1. A terminology used in wuxia novels to refer to superhuman movement

skills

Chapter 172: The Twelve Golden

Giants

Zu An couldn’t help but remember a legend. It was said that after Qin

Shihuang unified the Central Plains, he gathered all of the weapons of his

enemies in Xianyang, melted them down, and had them constructed into

twelve humongous copper sculptures, each weighing over a thousand

boulders. He placed these copper sculptures in his imperial court.

In ancient China, copper and gold were used interchangeably, so copper

sculptures were considered golden sculptures too. Also, the ‘weighing over

a thousand boulders’ should have been an exaggeration too, but it seemed to

have been realized in this world. No matter how he looked at it, the copper

giants before him had to weigh at least tens of tonnes each.

“Be careful!” Seeing how Zu An was still blanking out even though the

copper giants were already charging over, Qiao Xueying quickly grabbed

his hand and pulled him aside.

With a loud ‘bam’, the area where the two of them were standing earlier

was completely smashed under the foot of one of the copper giants. When it

finally removed its foot, there was a massive footprint left in its wake. Had

Zu An and Qiao Xueying not run away, regardless of whether they were at

the third rank or the fifth rank, they would have surely been smashed into

pulp.

“You owe me yet another life.” Qiao Xueying harrumphed.

“That doesn’t count. I would have dodged even if you didn’t pull me away,”

retorted Zu An.

“You sure are shameless!” berated Qiao Xueying.

There was no time for them to argue on. Another copper giant had begun

charging in their direction, so they hurriedly dodged once more.

These copper giants gleamed with a golden glow, and their narrow eyes

carried an inexplicable air of imposingness. There were some weird

symbols on their forehead, which resembled the characters for ‘1’ to ‘12’.

Could these copper giants be called Copper Giant One, Copper Giant Two,

so on and so forth? Hm. This kind of reminds me of those fellows from the

Plum Blossom Sect.

While his mind wandered, he rushed toward the back of the closest copper

giant. He knew that while the massive physique of these copper giants

looked terrifying, it also limited their ability to maneuver around agilely. It

would be hard for them to turn their bodies around and make small

adjustments.

Zu An looked no more than ant before these humongous copper giants, but

he wasn’t afraid at all. He concentrated his ki in his leg and kicked its heel.

These copper giants were shaped like a human, which meant that their

massive bodies were currently pivoted on their heels, making it one of their

weaknesses. If he could even just twist their heels, the copper giants might

find themselves unable to sustain their body weight anymore and collapse

to the ground.

Unfortunately, there tended to be a divergence between theory and practice.

Despite putting his full might into his strike, the copper giant he attacked

remained completely unfazed. There wasn’t even any mark left on its heel.

Instead, the terrifying rebound left a stabbing pain reverberating through his

bones, leaving him feeling as if he had fractured his leg.

All of a sudden, he remembered a joke he had read about in his previous

life.

An ant saw an elephant on the road and dived into the earth, leaving just

one of its legs exposed. A passing rabbit saw it and asked in

incomprehension, “Why are you exposing your leg out in the open?”

To that, the ant replied, “Shh! Don’t make a noise. I’m going to trip the

elephant over!”

Right now, Zu An felt that he was the overly confident ant, attempting to

use his measly leg to trip the copper giant over.

The copper giant seemed to be provoked by Zu An’s attack, and it raised its

leg to kick back at him.

Zu An immediately made a sidestep, but he felt another gush of wind

headed in his direction. So, he quickly executed the Sunflower Phantasm to

flee several meters away.

Soon, the jarring sound of metal scraping against one another sounded.

Another copper giant had drawn a several meters long sword and cut it

down on where Zu An was standing a moment ago, scraping out sparks

from the friction against the ground.

Zu An gulped fearfully. He had noticed right from the start that these

copper giants had a sword sheath hanging by their waists, but he thought

that they were just ornaments. Who could have thought that they were

actually real weapons?

It was a sword by the copper giants’ standards, but to Zu An, it looked more

like someone was hurling a massive billboard straight toward his face.

“What do we do? These copper giants are invulnerable to swords and

spears; my sword has already shattered against them!” Qiao Xueying

dodged several of the copper giants’ attack before rushing over to regather

with Zu An. They stood back-to-back with one another, gasping hard to

catch their breath. It would appear that she wasn’t faring any better either.

Zu An noticed the broken sword in her grasp and murmured, “I don’t

believe that they’re really invulnerable to weapons!”

So, he summoned Poisonous Prick and dashed right for one of the copper

giants.

Even if you can’t be hurt with kicks and swords, I don’t believe that you’ll

be able to remain unharmed before my Poisonous Prick!

While these copper golems were clearly inanimate beings, which meant that

the sure-kill effect of Poisonous Prick wouldn’t work, its sharpness should

still be more than enough to slice right through their defenses.

Zu An was moving so fast that Qiao Xueying was actually seeing multiple

copies of Zu An around. She knew that this was the effect of his extreme

speed and unique movement skill, and she couldn’t help but be impressed

by his means. It’s no wonder why so many of us are unable to kill him even

though he’s only at the third rank.

Zu An executed his ‘Bixie Swordplay’ to its limits. With every flit, he

would appear right beside one of the copper giants and swipe his dagger

with lighting speed, shaving off a large slab of ‘meat’ from the copper

giant’s heels.

The heat had really gotten to him. Now, he was more determined than ever

to make them fall.

Ahhhh!

The copper giants began howling out loud, frightening Qiao Xueying. Wait

a moment, do these copper giants feel pain?

The copper giants continued swinging their swords down on Zu An. Their

movements were slow, but this weakness was complemented by their long

limbs and massive swords. Every strike from them really felt like a

finishing blow from a boss monster. Even with Zu An’s powerful

movement skill, there were still many times where he nearly got swept

away by those huge ass swords.

On top of that, the copper giants also didn’t hesitate to use their legs and

fists whenever the situation warranted too. It made it look as if twelve

humans were desperately trying to swat off a fly, creating quite a ludicrous

scene. But putting aside the ridiculousness of the sight, their attacks were

effective, especially since they stirred powerful shockwaves that battered

down on Zu An even if they missed their target.

A while later, Zu An found himself staring in shock at the twelve copper

giants. He was certain that he had already sliced off huge slabs of ‘meat’

from the copper giants, but for some reason, they were still moving

perfectly normally, which didn’t make sense at all!

“Look, they’re regenerating from their wounds!” Qiao Xueying pointed to

the heels of the copper giants as she shouted.

Zu An quickly took a look too. Just as Qiao Xueying had said, their wounds

were healing at a visible pace. The copper slabs he had sliced off slowly

sunk into the ground, and it tallied with the rate of regeneration of those

copper giants.

“It looks like they are able to regenerate automatically in this environment,”

said Qiao Xueying with a pale face.

Even though these copper giants were lacking in agility, their attacks were

powerful and they were nigh indestructible. How could they possibly win

this match?

To make things worse, they were severely short on time. If they dragged

things out, Chu Chuyan might have already died in Zhang Han’s hands by

the time they returned to save her.

“I heard that fire curbs metal. Are you able to use any fire element skills,

like fireball or something?” asked Zu An.

Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes. “Don’t you know better than anyone else that

I’m a wood element cultivator? If I can use fire, the first one to burn is

myself!”

Zu An clicked his tongue in disdain. “Trash. I don’t expect you to be like

those novel protagonists who can pull out all five elements from their ass,

but shouldn’t you at least be at the level of a lesser villain with two

elements or something? Haa, I really shouldn’t bear any expectations of you

at all lest I get disappointed again.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

“What kind of nonsensical novels do you read? Cultivators in this world

can only awaken to a single element. This is common sense, common

sense!!!”

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +233 Rage!

Qiao Xueying gnashed her teeth furiously. This fellow really is my nemesis.

We must have been enemies our previous life!

“Since you’re all-so-knowledgeable about common sense, why don’t you

tell me what we should do now?” Zu An dodged an attack from the copper

giant as he asked.

Qiao Xueying fell silent for a moment before murmuring, “As the saying

goes, ‘The great dao is complete at fifty, fate accounts for forty-nine, and

the final one comes up to unpredictability.’ There’s no such thing as an

unbreakable seal in this world. These copper giants must have a weakness,

just that we haven’t stumbled upon it yet.”

“A load of nonsense. Give me something that I can work with!” scoffed Zu

An.

Qiao Xueying’s face reddened. She glared at Zu An and said, “I’m saying

that you should stop staring at their legs! They must have a weakness

somewhere else!”

“Somewhere else?” Zu An examined the copper giants once more,

specifically choosing to eye their crotch first. However, there was nothing

there, which seemed to indicate that these copper giants didn’t have the

concept of gender. If so, a ball kick was unlikely to be too effective.

The two of them split up and continued weaving around the copper giants

while searching for their weakness, and soon, Qiao Xueying noticed

something.

“Hey, could their weakness possibly be that strange mark on their

foreheads?”

She noticed that the marks on their foreheads would glow dimly every

single time the copper giants moved.

Hearing her analysis, Zu An nodded in agreement. “Yes, that does seem to

be likely. I guess there’s some truth to the common adage that big-breasted

women tend to be not too smart.”

Qiao Xueying was stunned. Huh? What does being big-breasted have to do

with me? My breasts aren’t too big in the first…

Realization suddenly struck her. He was basically insulting her for having

small breasts in an indirect manner!

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +666 Rage!

“But these copper giants are way too tall. We can’t reach them even if we

know what their weakness is,” grumbled Zu An.

Of course, as cultivators, both Zu An and Qiao Xueying were able to easily

leap over twenty meters in height, but the problem was that the copper

giants they were dealing with weren’t stationary objects. They would attack

them as soon as they came close!

Zu An might have been able to outmaneuver them on the ground, but if he

were to leap right up to their faces, wouldn’t that just be courting his own

death?

He had no intention of being swatted down like a mosquito, so he hurriedly

racked his brain for a solution. Soon, his eyes lit up, and he exclaimed, “Ah,

I got it!”

“What is it?” asked Qiao Xueying.

“How long can your hair extend for? How resilient are they?” asked Zu An.

Qiao Xueying’s ability to extend her hair as she pleased and lash them

around like whips had left quite a deep impression on him.

Qiao Xueying was hesitant to answer those questions. These were secrets

that a cultivator would never tell another soul, or else others would be able

to guard against her attack. However, seeing the earnest look on Zu An’s

face, she eventually still answered honestly, “I should be able to extend

them over thirty meters long. As for their resilience… it’d be hard for

normal swords and sabers to sever them.”

“Good. I need your hair to extend as long as possible now,” said Zu An as

he grabbed onto her hair and started tugging on it.

Qiao Xueying felt enraged and humiliated by how a man was actually

holding onto her hair. Just as Zu An wished, her hair immediately extended

outward, morphing into whips that threatened to lash down on him.

“Hey hey hey, calm down! I’m doing this in order to break the seal!”

explained Zu An hurriedly. While grabbing her hair, he weaved around the

copper giants and wrapped her hair around all of their legs.

The sharp-witted Qiao Xueying swiftly figured out his intention. Hmm, he

does have quite some ideas in mind. But at the same time, she felt a little

frightened too. Given the strength of these copper giants, wouldn’t they

simply tug out all of her hair and make her bald?

As soon as those thoughts arose in her head, she suddenly felt a strong tug

on her head. Before she could even react, she was already sent flying by the

movement of the copper giants. With tears brimming in her eyes, she cursed

the culprit who put her in her miserable state, “Zu An, you bastarddddddd!”

Chapter 173: Earth Seal

It was then that a massive sword swiped down in Qiao Xueying’s way.

Even from afar, she could already hear a thunderous rumble swiftly

crescendoing the closer it came to her. The sheer force was so great that

even if it could probably amputate a limb from the other copper giants, let

alone her frail body.

Qiao Xueying’s first instinct was to dodge, but she was currently flying

through the air with nowhere to pivot her body on. It was impossible for her

to dodge at all. Seeing the sword growing bigger and bigger before her

eyes, she sighed softly and closed her eyes, resigning herself to fate.

She was already tired of living anyway, so it didn’t seem too bad for her to

die just like that. The only regret she had now was to be unable to see the

breaking of three seals through and save the young miss. Will Zu An be

able to do it alone?

The thought of Zu An made rage explode within her head.

It’s all due to him that I’m dying right now! Will he even feel the slightest

tinge of guilt toward me when he thinks about this in the future? Haa, I

doubt so. How could that man possibly know of guilt?

“I bet that you’re cursing me right now.”

A teasing voice suddenly sounded right beside her as Qiao Xueying felt

herself falling into a warm embrace. She quickly opened her eyes, only to

see Zu An staring at her, leaving her taken aback.

However, she quickly snapped out of her daze. She pointed right behind

him and exclaimed, “Sword! Sword! …”

She was so panicked that she couldn’t even construct a complete sentence

properly.

A black shadow flashed across the air, and her hair was suddenly severed.

Then, Zu An quickly pulled her several meters away, and by a close shave,

she managed to avoid that incoming sword.

Feeling the frenzied shockwave caused by the massive sword that landed

just several inches away from her, Qiao Xueying found her hair scattering

messily all over her face. She stared at the man holding on to her with a

dazed expression, her heart inexplicably thumping faster.

“What’s with this feeling? Why is my face turning red? Why is my heart

beating so fast? Why am I reacting to this fellow…” Qiao Xueying’s mind

was an utter mess.

“I saved your life again. We should be equals now, right?” said Zu An with

a smile.

Qiao Xueying’s face reddened. She opened her mouth, but no word would

come out.

“Are you feeling your heart beating fast? Do you feel an emotion you have

never felt before engulfing your body?” Zu An suddenly dropped this

question.

“S-so what if that’s the case!” Qiao Xueying blurted those words out so

quickly that she regretted it right now. How could I have admitted to it?

Damn it, this fellow is going to act all smug over it now!

Unexpectedly, Zu An replied, “You shouldn’t think that you’re in love with

me just because of that. This is a perfectly normal occurrence. Using

professional jargon, it’s called ‘Suspension Bridge Effect’. It’s perfectly

normal for your heart to beat fast when crossing a dangerous suspension

bridge, and if you coincidentally meet with another person then, you’ll

mistake your physical reactions as a sign of affection for that person. But

no, that’s not love.”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

That long speech was more than enough to make her snap out of her

unusual state. “Hah, of course! Even if I fall in love with a pig, a dog, or

even a zombie, I’d never fall in love with a guy like you!”

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +111 Rage!

Zu An was speechless. Your words don’t look too credible with that little

amount of Rage points you’re supplying me with. “Don’t worry, I won’t fall

in love with a venomous little lass like you either.”

Despite the bicker, Zu An’s attention was still on the battle. Without any

hesitation, he charged toward the copper giants with Poisonous Prick in

hand.

Those copper giants had been tied together using the ‘rope’, and of course,

Zu An didn’t expect Qiao Xueying to be able to trip them over with her

strength. Instead, he tied the legs of those copper giants together, hoping

that they would trip each other over with their own strength.

As their movements weren’t coordinated, with one heading one way and the

other heading another, it didn’t take long for the first copper giant to trip

over and fall. Like a set of dominos, more and more copper giants fell down

to the ground.

Had the copper giants been normal humans, they would have tried to sever

the hair wrapped around their ankles. With their astounding strength, it was

likely that they would have been able to rip through Qiao Xueying’s

resilient hair with ease.

Unfortunately, it was clear that they were lacking in intelligence. They

simply flailed their legs around in futility, unable to free themselves from

the hair wrapped around their legs even to the very last moment.

Zu An made use of this opportunity to run to the nearest copper giant and

stab Poisonous Prick into the center of their forehead.

At close proximity, he could feel more concretely than ever just how huge

and powerful these copper giants were. Looking at their whopping heads

and big eyeballs, he couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated. If Snow is

wrong about this, I might really just meet my end here.

Puchi!

His dagger stabbed right into the copper giant’s forehead. However, due to

the size of the giant’s head and short reach of the dagger, somehow, it

looked more like a toothpick poking into someone’s head instead.

Feeling more and more uneasy about this, he quickly retrieved his dagger

and backed away, fearing the copper giant’s retaliation.

To his surprise, the sharp glint in the copper giant’s eyes gradually dimmed

before vanishing altogether. It had reverted back to a dead copper sculpture.

Delighted to see that it was effective, Zu An quickly used the Sunflower

Phantasm to rush for the next copper giant. He plunged his dagger into the

center of its forehead and retracted it before rushing to the next target…

He was extremely efficient about this. In just a few seconds, he had already

eliminated eleven of the copper giants. However, just as he was about to

deal with the twelfth one, the final remaining copper giant suddenly roared

furiously and successfully struggled free of the hair binding its leg. It

climbed back up to its feet and smacked its palm down toward Zu An.

Seeing the twist in the situation, Zu An quickly changed his direction and

retreated several meters away. The force of the palm was so great that even

the shockwave might have been enough to end his life. Considering that he

was already injured at the moment, he didn’t want to take this risk.

In just a few short moments, the copper giant had managed to rise back to

its feet. Looking at its collapsed comrades, it still felt a surge of anger

despite its lacking intelligence. It roared furiously to the sky.

You have successfully trolled First Emperor’s Copper Giant No. 1 for +9 +9

+9…

As expected of the number 1. The boss of the group is indeed much harder

to deal with.

Zu An backed off to Qiao Xueying’s side, and he couldn’t help but notice

that her long hair had been chopped off to barely ear length. He chuckled a

little and remarked, “Say, wouldn’t it be interesting if my hand had slipped

earlier and chopped off all of your hair?”

“On the account that you saved me earlier, I shan’t hold this one against

you.” Qiao Xueying harrumphed. She patted her hair softly, and her short

hair swiftly grew longer, even forming a ponytail on its own.

Zu An was dumbfounded. He couldn’t resist touching her newly-grown

ponytail, remarking, “Oh? I didn’t think that you would have such a

function. Must be convenient not to comb your hair every morning.”

Qiao Xueying shot a piercing glare at Zu An as she snatched her ponytail

back. “Don’t you know that a man and a woman should keep some distance

between each other?”

Zu An was amused by that remark. “We had far more intimate interactions

than this in the past, and you’re suddenly talking about distance with me?”

Qiao Xueying’s eyebrows shot up. “You still dare to talk about that!”

Zu An burst into laughter. “Alright, let’s talk about serious matters. I need

to extend your hair again. I’ll tie that big fellow up.”

The earlier long lock of hair had scattered all over the place due to the

copper giant’s struggling, so Zu An couldn’t use it anymore.

Qiao Xueying was troubled by the request. “That wouldn’t do. I’ve exerted

myself too much today, so I won’t be able to regrow it in the short-term.”

Earlier in the underground palace, she cut off a huge chunk of her hair

because it was stained in bat’s blood, and another huge chunk of it was

severed here. On top of that, she had been exerting herself all this while, so

there was no way to replenish her lost energy.

“What do we do then?” Zu An looked at the copper giant charging toward

them with a contemplative frown.

“What are you blanking out for? Hurry up and dodge! We can think of

another way later on!” exclaimed Qiao Xueying.

To her surprise, Zu An shook his head and replied, “Chuyan won’t be able

to wait that long. I need to take care of it right now.”

Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes. “Stop bragging over here! If you can really

take care of it right away, I’ll follow your… surname…”

Before she could finish her words, Zu An suddenly vanished from the spot.

The next moment, he was already right before the copper giant’s forehead,

the black dagger in his hand plunged right into the center of its forehead.

The copper giant’s movements jolted from the sudden attack, and the light

in its eyes gradually faded. Its body started falling frontward under the force

of inertia.

Zu An quickly pulled out his dagger before pushing his leg against the

copper giant’s head and leaped backward. The copper giant crashed heavily

onto the ground, causing a cloud of dust to rise into the air.

Witnessing this grand sight, Qiao Xueying’s face reddened a little. Why

does this fellow suddenly look a little charming?

“What did you say earlier?” asked Zu An as he made his way over to her

side.

“N-nothing.” Qiao Xueying was relieved that he had moved too quickly to

hear what she had said, or else she would have been placed in an awkward

position. “How did you manage to do it?”

While his movement skill was formidable, it would at least still leave

behind traces for one to track his movements. Yet, the earlier attack was so

swift that it almost looked as if he had teleported right in front of the copper

giant in a flash.

“Curious?” asked Zu An as he leaned in toward her.

Qiao Xueying leaned backward unnaturally as she nodded her head,

“Yeah.”

“Call me big brother, and I’ll let you in on the secret,” replied Zu An

cheerfully.

He had used Grandgale’s power earlier. Due to the earlier advancement in

his cultivation, he had enough ki to barely use it thrice a day.

This skill was perfect for fleeing, dodging, and assassination, but his

cultivation was simply too low at the moment that it was only useful for

dealing with dumb oafs with the copper giants. If he tried using it on other

high-rank cultivators, who possessed inhuman reflexes and all sorts of

elemental abilities, the chances of a successful assassination would have

been much lower.

Qiao Xueying simply ignored him. She was more concerned about

something else here. “We should have cleared the Human Seal, right?”

Right after she said those words, the twelve copper giants vanished in a

burst of light. Then, the feeling of weightlessness shrouded the two of them

once more as their surroundings blurred. Before they knew it, they were

already back at the underground palace.

It was then that Qiao Xueying noticed that their hands were linked together,

so she quickly shook it off.

Zu An shrugged casually, thinking nothing of it.

“Hm? I never thought that you would be able to clear the Human Seal,” Mi

Li’s voice sounded. Her excitement was showing through her tone, as if she

was finally seeing a ray of hope.

Barely after those words were spoken, the sealing formation beneath them

suddenly opened up, causing them to fall to a deeper level beneath.

Zu An noticed that there was another similar sealing formation on this

deeper level, and he figured that it was the Earth Seal.

“The Earth Seal will be harder than the Human Seal. Do you want to rest a

bit first before entering?” asked Mi Li.

Zu An shook his head and replied, “There’s no need for that.”

Chu Chuyan was still waiting for him outside, so they needed to make haste

here.

Qiao Xueying also shared the same thought too. The two of them stood on

the Earth Seal, not saying a word at all. Mysteriously, the two of them

instinctively reached out in unison to hold each other’s hands.

The same feeling of weightlessness assaulted them. When they opened their

eyes once more, they realized that they were in the midst of darkness.

A frown formed on Zu An’s face as he remarked doubtfully, “Why are we

still in the underground palace?”

Chapter 174: How Lonely It Is to

be Invincible

“No, that’s not right. This isn’t the underground palace we were in earlier,”

said Qiao Xueying with a shake of her head. Her cultivation was much

higher than Zu An’s, so her senses were far sharper. “The area we were at

earlier was filled with death aura, but it’s much weaker here.”

Zu An scanned their surroundings carefully, and his face suddenly

scrunched in bitterness. “If we aren’t in the underground palace, what’s

with those things then?”

Qiao Xueying traced his gaze before jolting in horror. Several hundred

meters away from them stood an army of terracotta soldiers. It was identical

to what they had encountered back at the underground palace!

“Earth Seal, huh? These terracotta soldiers are made out of mud and are

buried underground, making them intricately related to the earth. They must

be the enemies we have to face here,” said Zu An grimly.

Qiao Xueying suddenly thought of something and sighed, “It’s a pity that

the bizarre light-emitting stick of yours fell into the lake earlier, or else

you’d be able to easily deal with these fellows and break the seal.”

A mysterious smile surfaced on Zu An’s lips as he summoned the Magical

Flashlight out. “Are you referring to this?”

Qiao Xueying widened her eyes in astonishment at the black stick he had in

hand. “Ah? Didn’t it fall into the lake earlier? Why do you still have it?

Wait a moment, does that mean that you have a lot of it in your

possession?”

She was quite certain that Zu An hadn’t picked up the stick after it fell into

the lake earlier.

“How could I have duplicates of an artifact as precious as this? This is the

same one you saw earlier on,” replied Zu An. “It’s just that it is linked to

me telepathically, so it would automatically return to my side.”

Qiao Xueying looked at Zu An with a complicated look on her face. Just a

month ago, she still thought that this man was a good-for-nothing, only to

be bombarded with surprises one after another. “Why is it that the undead in

the underground palace is so fearful of the light emanated by that stick?”

Zu An chuckled softly and said, “You haven’t called me big brother yet. I’ll

answer your question once you do it.”

Qiao Xueying spat on the ground and said, “Pui, you sure are shameless!

You shouldn’t be hooking up with other women behind the young miss’

back!”

“You’re a different case though. Have you forgotten that Chuyan has

already given you to me? Since my wife has already approved of this, how

can this be called ‘hooking up’?” said Zu An. “Besides, if anyone is

hooking up with who, it’s you. You’re the one holding onto my hand tightly

now.”

Qiao Xueying immediately retracted her hand hurriedly. With a reddened

face, she explained in a fumble, “Y-you were the one who told us to link

hands in case we strayed apart!”

It was quite entertaining to Zu An to see her furiously blushing cheeks.

Despite her vile tongue, she does have a good face and an alluring figure.

There’s no denying that she’s a beauty.

Zu An felt that he was suited to become a wastrel of a rich family. He

would be perfectly satisfied living an idle life, spending his free time

teasing some women. It didn’t seem like that bad of a way to spend his

whole life.

Pui! Zu An, how can you be won over by her charms so easily? Have you

forgotten how she tried to kill you time and time again? You mustn’t be so

shallow!

Zu An scorned himself.

Meanwhile, Qiao Xueying looked at him with a bizarre face. “Why are you

looking at me with such licentious eyes? You must be thinking of

something perverted.”

“What do you mean by licentious eyes? Please watch your use of words,

young miss. This is called a caring gaze!” corrected Zu An.

It was then that some noises began sounding ahead of them. The two of

them quickly turned their gazes over, only to see the terracotta soldiers

turning in their direction.

“Hurry up and use that flashlight of yours to deal with them! It feels kind of

weird getting stared at by so many eyes.” Qiao Xueying fidgeted

uncomfortably under their stare.

“Alright.” Zu An felt rather disturbed by their gazes, so he switched on the

flashlight and directed it toward the terracotta soldiers.

A white pillar of light immediately shone down on the army of terracotta

soldiers, causing them to immediately break out of their neat formation.

“What do we need to do in order to break the seal? Do we really need to get

rid of all of them?” Even with a rough sweep of the surroundings, Qiao

Xueying could spot at least a thousand terracotta soldiers around. It

definitely wouldn’t be an easy feat to deal with them unless Zu An used the

light-emitting stick in his hand.

Zu An also shared the same thoughts in mind. He continued shining his

flashlight on the terracotta soldiers. Where the light shone, the terracotta

soldiers in the area would find their colors swiftly fading before crumbling

into pieces, reminiscent of a snowman exposed directly under the sun.

“It’s no wonder why we weren’t allowed to take pictures in museums. It

turns out that light is quite a powerful weapon against antiques,” murmured

Zu An as he walked into the enemy’s formation with his flashlight in hand.

“So this is what it means for a person to single handedly defeat thousands.

Ah, what a pity that there’s no spectator here to witness my greatness, or

else my name would surely shake the world,” lamented Zu An. He suddenly

remembered a song from his previous world and began singing it aloud,

“Alas, how forlorn it is to be invincible~ Alas, how empty it is to be

invincible~”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

Why did he suddenly start singing? The melody of the song sounds so

weird. Also, aren't the lyrics a little too arrogant? Hmmm, but it does carry

quite a bit of impact.

I wonder which formidable expert composed this song. It’s impossible for

an ordinary man to compose such a majestic song. Argh, but it sounds so

incongruous hearing such a song from a mere third rank cultivator!

Meanwhile, Zu An was still busy flashing at the terracotta soldiers with an

excited smile on his face, “C’mon! I dare you to come nearer!”

You have successfully trolled the Terracotta Soldiers for +6 +6 +6…

Why is this human so despicable? Why don’t you put down that light-

emitting stick in your hand and have a proper fight with us then? I swear

that I’ll beat the shit out of you within seconds!

“Heh, a bunch of weaklings!” sneered Zu An.

However, he noticed that while the flashlight could suppress them, its

killing prowess was still severely lacking. For one, he had to shine the light

directly on them in order to deal damage, and the damage output stopped as

soon as he moved the light away.

“Wuwuwuw~”

A warhorn suddenly sounded at this moment. The terracotta soldiers

standing on war chariots waved the flags in their hands, and the formation

gradually calmed down. Soon, a row of warriors armed with shields

marched to the forefront to block off the terrifying light shining down on

them.

Zu AN was stunned. These fellows are actually capable of strategizing?

He tried to shine the flashlight from different angles, but the light was

completely blocked by the shields. The soldiers had wisely chosen not just

to block in front of them but above them too.

This is ridiculous!

It was then that Zu An’s eyes narrowed in horror. He noticed that the

archers standing at the far end at the back of the terracotta soldiers were

nocking their arrows on their bows.

“Run!” Zu An immediately turned around and ran. He noticed that Qiao

Xueying still hadn’t snapped out of her daze yet, so he quickly grabbed her

hand and pulled her away with him.

“What are you doing?!” Once again, Qiao Xueying was angry by the

sudden physical contact, but the whooshing sound above her soon silenced

her rage.

She raised her gaze and saw a rain of arrows headed their direction, and her

face immediately paled in fright.

What the hell! This fellow was still singing his lamentations about being

invincible at one moment, and in the next, he was fleeing faster than anyone

else. Know some shame!

“We won’t make it in time!” Zu An knew that they couldn’t possibly outrun

the arrows, so he turned to Qiao Xueying and asked, “How long can your

barrier last for?”

“Not too long,” replied Qiao Xueying with a pale face.

“Buy some time for me!” Zu An halted his footstep as he began digging the

ground with Poisonous Prick.

Qiao Xueying was unsure what he was up to, but she still waved her wrist

and weaved several tree vines together to form a shield. Right after that, the

arrows began striking squarely on the vine shield.

Qiao Xueying let out a muffled groan upon the strike. Forcefully bearing

the powerful impact of the arrows was inflicting significant internal injuries

on her.

She wasn’t even in a state to speak at all. She focused all of her ki on

repairing her tattered vine shield. She should have been able to last several

minutes, but for some reason, she felt like an eternity had already passed

her by.

“Ah!” Qiao Xueying suddenly exclaimed loudly as she sensed one of the

arrows piercing through her defense and plunging into her shoulder. She

gritted her teeth tightly to bear with the pain as she continued to focus her ki

on her vine shield.

Nevertheless, she knew that she was swiftly approaching her limit and

could only last for another three more seconds before her defense crumbled.

By then, the two of them would be turned into porcupines.

Qiao Xueying felt her body finally caving into exhaustion. Before she

closed her eyes, she muttered, “I never thought that I would end up dying

with this fellow.”

“Oh? I never knew that you were so interested in a lovers’ suicide with

me,” a teasing voice sounded.

Stunned, Qiao Xueying hurriedly opened her eyes, only to see that she was

lying in a shallow pit. The arrows flying over simply fell to the other side of

the pit

So this was what he was digging all this while…

Qiao Xueying finally understood Zu An’s intention, but she soon became

conscious of the fact that she was held tightly in Zu An’s arm. They were

directly in front of one another, such that she could feel Zu An’s breathing

on her face. Just a slightly closer, and their lips would be touching.

“What are you doing!” Shocked, Qiao Xueying began struggling

instinctively.

However, Zu An held onto her closely and said, “Stop moving! It wasn’t

easy for me to dig this trench hole! You’ll expose yourself and get shot if

you continue struggling!”

As if to verify his words, an arrow happened to brush across her sleeves

right after. Seeing this, she immediately remained still, not daring to move

at all.

In order to alleviate the awkwardness she felt, Qiao Xueying turned her

head sideward and asked, “What’s the theory behind digging this pit? Why

does the arrow shoot right above us and not on us?”

Zu An began explaining patiently, “This is what we call a trench hole. As

you know, arrows usually fly in an arc, descending diagonally down on

their enemy. However, this trench hole is created in a way such that it’s

impossible for any arrows to hit us unless they fall vertically downward.

That’s why no arrows are able to hit us.”

It was a relief that his dagger was able to slice through any material as

easily as if ripping through paper, and his strength was freakishly great now.

Otherwise, there was no way he could dig out a trench hole big enough for

the two of them to hide in within such a short period of time.

Qiao Xueying still looked a little confused. She couldn’t help but ask, “Why

do you know so much stuff?”

“It took you awhile, but I’m glad that you finally realized my wisdom. You

must have been blind to not recognize my greatness in the past,” replied Zu

An. Even though she’s hateful, I must admit that she really has a soft body.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

Will you die if you just stop arguing with me for a moment?

The rain of arrows suddenly began to thin. Clearly, the archers had realized

that they weren’t able to hit them.

Just as the two of them were about to heave a sigh of relief, the ground

began to rumble loudly.

It was the cavalry! The cavalrymen had begun on their charge!

Chapter 175: Big Brother

The two of them arched their head upward to take a look, only to see a

platoon of cavalrymen charging furiously in their direction. They were so

fast that it would only take moments for them to arrive at the trench hole.

Given the charging prowess of the cavalrymen, there was little doubt that

they would be reduced into meat slab right away.

Zu An instinctively shone the flashlight toward the cavalrymen, only to see

them raising a shield in front of them. So, he changed his target toward their

steed, only to be shocked once again to see that their horses’ eyes were

covered in cloth.

He was utterly dumbfounded. What the hell? You’re terracotta soldiers,

beings made out of mud! Where in the world did you get the cloth from?

In any case, he had to figure out a way to resolve the crisis right before his

eyes.

An idea came to his mind, and he activated Sunflower Phantasm and

continuously executed ‘Pick’ of the Elementary Swordplay, digging out a

small hole.

He was rather impressed by how simplistic the Elementary Swordplay of

Brightmoon Academy really was. The idea of ‘pick’ was fully expressed in

the movement, evidenced by how efficient his blade was picking up the

rock floor and tossing them aside.

If the creator of the Elementary Swordplay were to learn that his successor

was using his technique to dig a hole, he would probably be so mad that he

would leap right out of his coffin.

But of course, that was none of Zu An’s concern right now. He was only

glad that Poisonous Prick was incredibly sharp, or else he wouldn’t have

been able to dig so efficiently.

Qiao Xueying was completely confused by Zu An’s action. Is he intending

on building a hole to hide from this platoon of cavalrymen?

Hda it been in the past, she would have surely shrugged over Zu An’s action

as utter nonsense, but after everything they had gone through together, she

decided to aid him as well. She gathered the remnant of her ki and placed

her hand on the ground. Soon, vines shot out from the ground, creating a

circular hole.

As the cavalrymen were getting closer and closer, Zu An suddenly

abandoned the hole and pulled Qiao Xueying away with him, retreating

from the area.

“Isn’t it too late to run away right now?” Qiao Xueying was perplexed.

However, what confused her even further was that Zu An actually stopped

after barely running thirty meters.

He turned around to face the charging cavalrymen with his dagger in hand,

reminiscent of a panther ready to pounce at any moment.

Qiao Xueying couldn’t make sense of anything at all. Is he really intending

on facing the cavalrymen head-on? That’s suicide!

But in the next moment, she witnessed a sight that slackened her lower jaw.

The cavalrymen’s steeds in the front row were suddenly alarmed by

something and abruptly fell over, crashing heavily onto the ground. The

brittle material they were made of caused them to shatter into bits.

With the front row suddenly collapsing over, there was suddenly an obstacle

for the cavalrymen behind them. In such a situation, the other cavalrymen

ought to stop or divert to another pathway, but unfortunately, the inertia

from their furious charge disallowed them to stop. As a result, the damage

snowballed further as more and more cavalrymen fell over and collapsed.

It was then that Zu An moved. He charged toward the chaotic cavalrymen

and ended the life of those who hadn’t died yet while assassinating those

who were still on their steeds.

Typically speaking, even though the cavalrymen had lost the momentum of

their charge, they should have still been in an advantageous position due to

their higher altitude from being on the back of a horse, making them hard to

deal with. However, Zu An was equipped with the Magical Flashlight. By

shining the light here and there, those cavalrymen swiftly flew into chaos,

creating the best setting for Zu An’s Sunflower Phantasm to shine.

He weaved amongst the cavalrymen with unpredictable footsteps,

occasionally executing the ‘Bixie Swordplay’ to lop off the heads of the

terracotta soldiers.

After having fought with them for a while, he had already figured out what

their weakness was—their heads!

Roughly an incense’s time later, over a hundred cavalrymen returned back

to the dust. Half of them died from stumbling over one another, and the

other half was killed by Zu An.

“Is that fellow really a third rank cultivator?”

Looking at the Zu An flitting around the battlefield like an apparition, Qiao

Xueying felt a chill running down her back. Despite Zu An’s low

cultivation rank, he looked more like an assassin than the most formidable

assassin she had seen. His attacks were simple and clean, devoid of any

excess movement. Every time he made a strike, he would be able to reap a

life with him.

Meanwhile, Zu An gasped for breath from his overexertion. He had

managed to achieve fair results, but he ended up expending himself greatly

too.

It was also then that the remaining members of the terracotta soldiers finally

snapped out of it. The archers at the backline decided to continue firing

even at the expense of shooting their own comrades, resulting in a rain of

arrows swiftly falling.

“Quick, hide in the trench hole!” Qiao Xueying pulled Zu An over, afraid

that he was too tired to move.

Unexpectedly, Zu An threw a shield to her and said, “What are you running

for? We got a shield now.”

The best tool to deal with archers were naturally shields. It was out of

desperation earlier that Zu An had to dig a trench hole in a hurry earlier, but

after clearing away the cavalrymen, the battlefield was now littered with

shields.

The two of them quickly set up a couple of shields in front of them to

conceal their bodies. The arrows rained down on them furiously, but they

couldn’t hurt them at all.

Zu An made use of this opportunity to ask Qiao Xueying, “We already have

shields, but you still wanted to pull me into the trench hole. Be honest, are

you hoping that I would embrace you in there once more?”

“Embrace your head!” Qiao Xueying kicked him with a reddened face. It’s

all this fellow’s fault! He always brings out weird ideas that I end up getting

thrown off tempo. “Speaking of which, how did you make those

cavalrymen fall over just by digging those round holes?”

Zu An wagged his finger and said, “That’s a secret too. Call me big brother,

and I’ll tell you.”

Qiao Xueying gritted her teeth angrily. She took a look at the battlefield and

saw that there were hundreds of terracotta soldiers in front. On the other

hand, she was severely injured at the moment. Given the current

circumstances, it seemed unlikely that she would be able to live to the end

of the ordeal.

Not wanting to die ignorant, she succumbed to her curiosity and muttered

almost inaudibly, “Big… bro… ther…”

“???” Zu An.

He didn’t expect that Qiao Xueying would actually do as he said. Did the

sun rise from the west today?

Seeing the utterly shocked look Zu An was directing toward her, Qiao

Xueying’s face reddened. She glared back at him and said, “What are you

looking at? I’ve already done what you told me to. Hurry up and tell me the

answer!”

“What did you do? I didn’t hear clearly,” said Zu An with a smile creeping

on his lips.

“You’re toying with me?” Qiao Xueying flew into a state of rage.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +398 Rage!

Zu An quickly added, “I mean, I really didn’t hear it clearly. Just do it once

more, and I’ll give you the answer right away.”

Qiao Xueying bit her lips and her pride clashed with her curiosity. In the

end, she tilted her head sideways and murmured, “Big brother…”

“Ah, my good lil’ sister.” The gleeful smile on Zu An’s face enraged Qiao

Xueying. “Alright, the theory is actually pretty simple. If you have lived in

the grassfield before, you should be aware that grassland horses are afraid

of rodent holes. They’re afraid that they would break their legs if they

accidentally step into it. In order to avoid being affected by my flashlight,

the terracotta soldiers covered the eyes of their horses, preventing them

from seeing the holes on the ground. But by doing so, they ended up

courting their own death.

“As long as we can get the first row to collapse over, the remaining horses

behind would follow suit due to the speed of their charge and the fact that

the eyes of their horses were covered. As a result, they ended up tumbling

over one after another like domino tiles.”

“You’ve lived in the grassfield before? Why do you know such details?”

Qiao Xueying was perplexed. Based on the intelligence she had received

while infiltrating the Chu clan, she was certain that Zu An couldn’t have

been to the grassfield before.

Zu An shrugged arrogantly. “Don’t you know that your big brother is a

knowledgeable man well-versed in every field? Even without traveling out

of the city, I still know what’s going on in the outside world!”

The internet in his previous life was filled with all sorts of weird trivia that

one couldn’t earn money off. A true keyboard warrior would make sure to

diligently learn such trivia so that they could utilize them in arguments to

make them appear informed.

“Pui, shameless!” Qiao Xueying spat with a furious blush on her face. I

must have been possessed to actually call this fellow big brother!

The rain of arrows soon ceased after the terracotta soldiers knew that their

arrows weren’t working. The first row of footsoldiers began marching

forward. Remaining strictly in their formations, they marched their way

forward slowly but steadily. The shields in their arms remained raised in

order to fend against the mysterious beam of light.

Zu An remembered reading trivias on forums mentioning that the best way

to deal with footsoldiers was to strike them from the sides or the rear,

messing up their formation. Otherwise, even cavalrymen would suffer

heavy losses if they had to go through an army of footsoldiers in their

formation.

He looked at the steeds lingering in the area. As the cavalrymen platoon has

just been defeated, quite a few horses were left lying around the area.

“We’ll ride the horses to circle to their back.”

Zu An quickly leaped on top of one of the horses before urging it forward.

Even though these horses were made out of mud, they really felt no

different from war steeds. In fact, they looked even suaver than the steeds

Zu An had seen in dramas.

“Hurry up!” Seeing that Qiao Xueying was still standing in a daze, he

quickly beckoned her.

“Yes…” Qiao Xueying forced a smile as she struggled to walk over and

leap on top of a horse, only for her body to waver and collapse to the

ground.

It was fortunate that Zu An noticed her anomaly and quickly rushed down

to catch her. “What’s wrong?”

To his astonishment, he felt something wet on his hand. When he took a

closer look at his hand, he realized that it was stained in blood. He quickly

flipped her around to take a look, only to see that an arrow was piercing

into her back, soaking her robe in blood.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you’re injured? You had the time to bicker

with me, but you didn’t have the time to tell me something as important as

this?” Zu An tore out a piece of cloth to apply slight pressure on her wound

to slow the bleeding.

Qiao Xueying opened her mouth to retort, but she found that she was too

weak to mutter a word.

“Bear with it!” Zu An bellowed. He eyed the footsoldier formation, which

was steadily advancing on them, and made a quick estimation of the time

they had left. Then, he tore off the robe covering her back.

“W-what are you doing?!” Qiao Xueying was alarmed by his sudden action

and quickly struggled.

“Stop moving! I’m helping you pull out the arrow, or else there’s no way

we can stop the bleeding.” Zu An picked up a dagger from the ground and

gently cut away a thin piece of flesh around the arrow. Then, he pulled out

the arrow lodged inside her body.

“Ah!” Qiao Xueying’s body shuddered as sweat continued trickling down

her forehead profusely.

Zu An quickly applied pressure on her wounds with a piece of cloth as he

asked, “Where’s your medicine?”

He had finished his stock in the earlier battle, but he recalled that Qiao

Xueying still had some.

“It’s inside my robe, but…”

Before Qiao Xueying could finish her words, Zu An had already slipped his

hand into her robe to look for it.

“You!” Qiao Xueying raised her hand to slap him, but she was too frail to

do anything at all.

“Stop grumbling! It’s an urgent situation here. Besides, it’s not as if I’ve

never touched you before,” said Zu An.

He moved on to apply the medicine on the wound before hurriedly

wrapping it up.

His words reminded Qiao Xueying of the encounter they had with one

another back at the Chu clan, and her pale face tinged in red.

“It’s a pity that this fellow is unable to…”

As soon as this thought surfaced in her head, Qiao Xueying jolted in horror.

What in the world am I thinking about here?!

Chapter 176: Desperation

Seeing that the footsoldiers were getting closer and closer, Zu An dared not

to waste any more time. Knowing that Qiao Xueying was in no state to ride

a horse by herself, he pulled her into his embrace and rode on the same

steed together.

He grabbed a cloth and tied Qiao Xueying onto himself before squeezing

his thighs on the horse, urging it to gallop toward the flank of the

footsoldiers.

Qiao Xueying was deeply embarrassed by their amorous position, The two

of them were currently sitting face-to-face on the steed. In order to prevent

her from falling from the shakiness, Zu An had wrapped her thighs around

his body, resulting in her sitting in his embrace.

It was fortunate that she was small in size, or else Zu An wouldn’t even be

able to look at the road ahead of him.

Even though it was hard for her to accept it, she knew that this was the most

logical solution out of the quandary they were in. If he had left her be, she

would have been torn apart by those terracotta footsoldiers. She was simply

too weak to ride on a horse herself, and even grabbing onto Zu An’s body

was beyond her current means. This was the only position they could take

for her not to hinder his movements by too much.

Still, it didn’t change the fact that this position was too humiliating! She

was too embarrassed to even talk in such a position, so she simply leaned

her head against his shoulder and feigned unconsciousness so as to avoid

the awkwardness.

Meanwhile, Zu An wasn’t in any mood to enjoy the situation either. He was

just glad that Qiao Xueying was light enough not to affect his movements

by too much.

He skirted around the formation of the footsoldiers, searching for an

opening to strike.

When the footsoldiers noticed that he had moved to their flank, they

immediately turned around to face him. However, this was within Zu An’s

expectations. He continued circling around their formation while shining

his flashlight in their direction, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Initially, the archers were still firing their arrows in hopes of suppressing Zu

An, but the horse was moving too fast for their arrows to land properly. On

top of that, the archers couldn’t change their positions freely out of fear of

the flashlight, so their maneuverability was severely limited.

As the formation of the terracotta soldiers fell into disarray, the archers

gradually lost their coordination, making their arrows far less threatening

than they were at the start.

Zu An galloped around the place with all sorts of fancy maneuvers, such as

the famous ‘S’-shaped and ‘B’-shaped movements, but nevertheless, it was

only to the point that he was about to puke from the twisting and turning he

was doing that he finally saw a small opening he could capitalize on.

He immediately grabbed hold of the opportunity and charged straight

forward, heading diagonally to the back of the footsoldiers’ formation,

where the archers were hiding. He knew that he had to get rid of the archers

first, or else their long-ranged attacks would be a huge problem once they

regained their momentum.

The furious charge of the war steed scattered the archer formation, putting

them in a flustered state.

Zu An leaped down from his horse while sending it straight into the

footsoldiers’ formation to buy him some time. Using this opportunity, he

morphed into a blur and reaped the lives of the archers in the vicinity.

These archers might be a huge threat from a distance away, but once Zu An

managed to close the distance, they became no more than docile sheeps

waiting to be slaughtered. They were far less skilled than footsoldiers and

cavalrymen in close-quarter combat. On top of that, Zu An’s swift and

unpredictable movement made it impossible for them to even nick his

sleeves, let alone stop his rampage.

Meanwhile, Qiao Xueying continued hanging in front of him like a koala

bear latching onto a tree. In order not to affect his movements, she gathered

whatever that was left of her strength to hug him tightly.

She tried paying attention to his movement skill, hoping that she could

figure out the crux behind it now that she was looking at it up close, but it

only ended up making her giddy instead. So, she decided to turn her head

away and just listen to the voices in the surroundings.

Somehow, listening to the clean sound of his dagger tearing through the

bodies of the archers one after another sounded oddly pleasing.

It’s fortunate that the young miss isn’t around, or else his suaveness would

have surely…

A while later, the surroundings finally quietened down. All she could hear

was Zu An’s heavy breathing. She opened her eyes to take a look, only to

see that all of the archers had collapsed to the ground. However, Zu An had

also sustained considerable injuries too. No matter how weak the archers

were, they had a decisive numerical advantage, so they weren’t completely

helpless against him.

Noticing that all of the wounds were on his back, Qiao Xueying’s heart

jolted in shock. “You must have suffered a lot of injuries while protecting

me.”

“I can’t possibly use you as a shield, right?’ Zu An shrugged. “Besides, I

was the one who tied you in front of me. How embarrassing it would be for

me if you were to get injured right before my eyes?”

Qiao Xueying bit her lips.

“Oh right, do you have any recovery medicine?” asked Zu An.

He was already severely injured right from the start, and it was only thanks

to the effect of the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra that he was able to deal with the

archers. However, the new injuries he had sustained further worsened his

state, such that he could feel himself swiftly approaching his limits.

It was good that he had managed to deal with the cavalrymen and archers,

but there were still another 500 footsoldiers left. It was unlikely that he

would be able to last to the end against them in his current situation.

“I don’t have any left,” replied Qiao Xueying guiltily.

She had been charging from battle into battle, suffering severe injuries one

after another. She ended up having to pop a recovery medicine every now

and then, resulting in the fast depletion of her medicine.

“I guess I can only wish myself all the best.” Zu An took in a deep breath

before charging toward the footsoldiers next. He held onto the Magical

Flashlight in one hand, intending to use it to open up a path for himself,

while tightening his grip around Poisonous Prick in the other.

Under normal circumstances, even a fifth rank cultivator like Shi Kun

wouldn’t stand a chance against all of these terracotta soldiers, but there

was still a small sliver of hope for Zu An here. Their formation had already

fallen into chaos due to his earlier disruptions, allowing him to weave

amidst them with his Sunflower Phantasm, and he could use the Magical

Flashlight to curb the terracotta soldiers if he was placed in a dangerous

position.

On the other hand, the terracotta soldiers were also enraged too. They never

thought that their cavalry platoon and archer platoon would actually be

wiped out by just two individuals. On top of that, the two individuals still

dared to charge right into their formation.

He really is looking down on us!

You have successfully trolled the Terracotta Soldiers for +9 +9 +9…

The footsoldiers charged forward like a gushing wave, drowning Zu An out.

Using Sunflower Phantasm, Zu An skillfully dodged the attacks of the

footsoldiers while sneaking in attacks here and there. If he really found

himself cornered, he would randomly point the flashlight around, hoping to

intimidate the footsoldiers so as to buy himself some room.

It was like a small piece of leaf floating in the midst of stormy waters. It

looked as if it would sink at any moment, but it still continued to hold on

against all odds.

Zu An couldn’t tell how long it had been, but his arms started to grow

heavier and heavier. He was incredibly glad that his weapon was a dagger at

this moment. While it was short, its light weight allowed for speedy

maneuvers without taking too much of a toll on his stamina. If it had been a

sword in his hands instead, there was no way he could have lasted this long.

Even so, it didn’t change the fact that his cultivation was only at the third

rank. While both Sunflower Phantasm and the Elementary Swordplay didn’t

consume too much ki to execute, there was still a limit to his ki capacity.

After battling for so long, his ki was nearly on the verge of drying out.

Every strike that he made seemed to be ten times more arduous than usual.

He began to regret it. He should have spent all of his Rage points before

entering the Earth Seal. Even if he didn’t obtain some sort of cheat artifact

or skill, it would be good if he could get some Ki Fruit to raise his

cultivation too.

He was just too fearful of exposing his Keyboard earlier. After all, Qiao

Xueying was by his side and the unfathomably powerful Mi Li was keeping

an eye on him. But if it could save his life, he would rather expose the

existence of the keyboard to the rest of the world.

However, it was already too late for regrets. He was surrounded by enemies,

and the slightest carelessness would result in his death. In such a situation,

there was no way he could afford to multitask and draw the lottery

simultaneously.

It was then that ten terracotta soldiers thrust their halberds toward him, and

he quickly used Sunflower Phantasm to dodge to the side. Unfortunately, in

his exhausted state, the area where he stopped ended up deviating slightly

from where he intended to, resulting in him stepping on the broken leg of a

terracotta soldier on the ground.

It was a fatal error. He lost his balance and fell sideward.

There was no way the terracotta soldiers would miss out on this golden

opportunity. Multiple halberds immediately shot toward Zu An’s body right

away.

In order to protect Qiao Xueying from knocking against the ground, he had

instinctively positioned himself in a way such that her body was exposed on

top, but this also meant that the halberds would stab into her first.

So, Zu An used his dagger to deflect two of the halberds, but there were two

more that he couldn’t knock away in time. Left with no choice, he raised his

left arm and blocked the remaining halberds for Qiao Xueying.

Pu!

Two halberds stabbed into his left arm, causing blood and flesh to scatter all

around the air. Strength receded from his left hand, leaving him unable to

maintain his grip on the flashlight anymore.

More terracotta soldiers marched up then, brandishing their halberds at him.

Knowing that he was really on the verge of death this time around, Zu An

roared furiously as he severed the head of the halberds lodged into his arm

with his dagger before rolling sideward with Qiao Xueying. This set of

maneuver allowed him to dodge the attacks coming his way in this critical

moment.

He continued to execute a series of Sunflower Phantasm to regain his

momentum, but he was still unable to shake off the terracotta soldiers

chasing after him. Left with no choice, he could only squeeze out the

remnant of his ki to execute Grandgale one last time, allowing him to

instantaneously move a hundred meters away and escape from the

encirclement of the terracotta soldiers.

Despite having survived, he couldn’t bring himself to feel relieved at all.

His ki was really completely depleted this time around, and he had lost the

Magical Flashlight too. Perhaps it was due to the distance, he wasn’t even

able to retrieve it back into the Keyboard.

On top of that, his vision was also beginning to blur. He knew that this was

the side effect of having lost too much blood and the overwhelming fatigue.

“It looks like we’re really going to die here together…” murmured Zu An

as he gasped for his breath.

He couldn’t even find the strength within him to remain standing, so he

slumped onto the ground and watched helplessly as the terracotta soldiers

charged his way.

Unexpectedly, Qiao Xueying didn’t respond to him this time around. She

stared at his profusely bleeding arm and the tips of the halberds still lodged

into his flesh.

She lowered her head and remarked softly, “You might have been able to

defeat them if you didn’t bring me along with you.”

Zu An shook his head and replied, “Even if I didn’t bring you along, I still

wouldn’t be able to defeat so many of them. My cultivation is too low for

me to deal with so many soldiers at once.”

Qiao Xueying’s eyes were still focused on his bleeding arms. “Why did you

block that attack for me? You could have lasted a bit longer if you hadn’t

done so.”

Zu An groaned in dismay as he remarked weakly, “Argh, it maddens me

just to think about it. Indeed, why did I do that? It’s not like you’re my wife,

so why did I even try to save you? If I had another chance to do things once

over, I’d surely hurl you over to take the blow for me. Goddamnit, it angers

me just to think about it…”

Looking at the remorseful attitude he was putting on, Qiao Xueying burst

into laughter. “Really, you always come up with the most inappropriate

responses to situations. It’s no wonder why you’re so hated.”

“Hey, I just saved your life, right? The least you can do is stop being so

foul-mouthed…” rebuked Zu An.

Before he could finish his words, Qiao Xueying suddenly raised her head

and planted her soft lips on his.

Zu An widened his eyes in shock.

This time, he had to admit that her mouth didn’t taste foul at all. On the

contrary, there was a hint of sweetness even.

However, he couldn’t understand why she would kiss him at a time like

this. Could it be that she has been coveting my body for too long and

couldn’t resist my charms anymore now that we’re already on the verge of

death?

It was a long while before their lips parted away. Her pale cheeks flushed

red. She was about to say something when Zu An suddenly exclaimed in

horror, “That was my first kiss!”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +999 Rage!

Chapter 177: Half Life's Fate

“What are you looking at? Ah, I get it now. You actually fancied me all this

while. You only fought with me often because you wanted to attract my

attention!” Zu An thought about how those in their adolescence first came

to know of love but didn’t know how to express their feelings, so they

ended up bullying their crushes so as to attract their attention.

Mm, makes perfect sense.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +999 Rage!

“Forget it, since we’re going to die now, I shan’t hold it against you,”

continued Zu An with a sigh. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell Chuyan what you

did to me even if we reunite with her on the way to the afterlife.”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +1024 Rage!

Zu An was still going to continue saying something when Qiao Xueying

finally exploded. “Are you done yet?!”

“Not really. I reckon I can go on for three days straight if need be. Heaven

has blessed me an astoundingly wonderful mouth—I mean, even you

couldn’t resist the temptation to kiss me, no?” said Zu An as he reached out

to touch his lips.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +1024 Rage!

She was really frenzied at the moment. This bastard!!! I must have been

possessed earlier to actually bear all that kind of thoughts toward him

earlier!

She took a deep breath and harrumphed coldly, “Don’t you feel anything

different about your own body?”

“Different? What difference could there possibly… Hm?” Zu An lifted his

hand but suddenly froze up in shock. He realized that his injuries had

mostly recovered, and even his ki had been fully restored. “W-what’s going

on?”

“I just used one of my race’s secret art on you—Half Life’s Fate. From now

on, you’ll share half of my lifespan and vitality. As for the recovery of your

wounds, that’s just a bonus,” explained Qiao Xueying.

“What? I only have half of your lifespan and vitality?” Zu An was alarmed.

“Just what grudge do you hold against me to do this to me? I could have

lived to a ripe hundred years of age, but I only have of your lifespan now?!”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

Zu An sighed deeply and said, “Forget it, I know that you’re doing this to

save me too. So be it then.”

Qiao Xueying gritted her teeth angrily and spat, “Do you not know how

long my original lifespan is?”

Zu An assessed her from head-to-toe before replying, “Well, looking at

your curved eyebrows and small lips, I doubt that you’re a person blessed

by fate. I reckon you don’t have too many years ahead of you. Seventy to

eighty at most, I’d say.”

“Under normal circumstances, I can at least live till 1500 years old, but I

shared half of it with you. Yet, you’re still complaining about that?” sneered

Qiao Xueying coldly.

Zu An was stunned. “W-what? 1500 years old?!”

Qiao Xueying turned her head away angrily. “That’s the minimum here. As

I raise my cultivation further, it’s not impossible for me to live for 2000

years.”

“How can a human live for so long…” A thought suddenly struck Zu An.

“Wait a moment. You aren’t a human?”

“Who told you that I’m a human?” Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes. “I just

happened to grow up in the human world.”

“What race are you then? Dragon girl? Vixen?” Curious, Zu An tried to pry

up her skirt to take a look.

Qiao Xueying was both embarrassed and angered. She quickly pulled her

skirt back down and bellowed, “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to see if you have a tail,” replied Zu An earnestly.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

Unwilling to let the matter rest at that, he continued probing on, “Speaking

of which, what’s your main body then? Ah, I remember that you were able

to conjure vines at will. My gosh, you can’t be a tree demoness, are you?”

His impression of tree demons stopped at old men forcing beautiful young

women into becoming their concubines… Well, at least that was how it was

portrayed in dramas.

“You’re the one who’s a tree demoness! Your entire family is tree

demonesses!” screamed Qiao Xueying.

“What are you then?”

“I shan’t tell you!” Qiao Xueying looked at the two halberd tips that were

still lodged in his arm, and she suddenly found her heart mellowing down

once more. “Nothing good will come out of you knowing my identity. It’ll

only bring you trouble.”

“Alright alright, if you aren’t going to tell me, so be it,” grumbled Zu An.

After the short bicker they had with one another, the terracotta soldiers were

already barely tens of meters away from them. He quickly plucked out the

halberd tips in his arm before charging toward them with Qiao Xueying

wrapped around him.

With his body healed and ki restored, it was as if he had been born anew.

The recovery of his injuries meant that he no longer enjoyed the

enhancements from the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra, but at the very least, he

didn’t have to be scared of suddenly dropping dead anymore.

Still, the sharp reduction of his speed made it much harder to him to dodge

the attacks from the terracotta soldiers even when he was using Sunflower

Phantasm. He managed to make a decent comeback, but it didn’t take long

for his body to be covered in cuts once more.

He looked for an opportunity to escape from the terracotta soldiers before

gazing down on Qiao Xueying. Before her doubtful gaze, he leaned down

and kissed her.

“Uwuu!” It took Qiao Xueying a bit of effort to struggle free of him in her

injured state. She glared at him furiously and bellowed, “What are you

doing?”

“Nothing much. Since I was able to be restored back to full health with one

kiss, I thought that I could continue recovering from my injuries by kissing

you a few more times.”

Zu An was perplexed as to why it wasn’t working. Do I need to maintain

the kiss a little longer?

“Ridiculous!” shouted Qiao Xueying. “Half Life’s Fate is the most valuable

secret art for those of our race. It can only be used once in our lifetime!”

“It can only be used once in your lifetime?” Zu An was stunned. “You gave

your most valuable thing in your life to me?”

Qiao Xueying’s face reddened. “I just didn’t want to die here, so don’t think

too much into it.”

“You could try to cook up a better lie. You were still mired in despair

earlier,” remarked Zu An.

“Why do you have so many things to say? I just suddenly don’t want to die

anymore, alright? Besides, I’m only here to help you save the young miss!”

bellowed Qiao Xueying.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +213 Rage!

He still wanted to continue asking about it, but the terracotta soldiers had

already caught up with him at this point, so he could only turn his focus

back to the fight.

At this point, the terracotta soldiers were already completely confused.

They were certain that Zu An was on the verge of collapsing a moment ago,

but all of a sudden, he was filled with energy once more.

Are humans supposed to be as resilient as cockroaches?

They watched helplessly as their comrades fell one after another. Despite

each and every one of their desperate attempts to inflict a wound on him

each, they were still unable to end his life.

And things only took a worse turn when that human picked up the glowing

stick. The burst of light would force them back whenever they wanted to

launch a decisive assault, thus hastening their defeat.

After a bitter fight, Zu An finally managed to defeat all of the terracotta

soldiers, but he left one of them alive at the very end.

He noticed that the woman in his embrace had already lost consciousness.

In the first place, she was already severely injured and lost a lot of blood,

but she still activated her race’s secret art to save him. The huge decrease in

her vitality caused her to fall into a worse state.

Zu An initially tried to anger her so as to keep her conscious, but it was

impossible for him to continue talking to her while he was busy dealing

with those terracotta soldiers. By the time he noticed it, she had already lost

consciousness.

He placed his fingers on her philtrum and noticed that her breathing had

grown incredibly shallow.

Putting aside the fact that they still had to overcome the Heaven Seal

afterward, even if he brought her out right now, it was unlikely that she

would be able to last till he finally found someone to treat her.

So, he decided to slow down his pacing at this crucial moment and finish

spending all of his Rage points. He was hoping that he could get something

to save her life. He did draw ‘Faith in Brother Spring’ several times in the

past, so things were not completely hopeless yet.

If he could draw some artifacts to help him deal with the Heaven Seal, that

would be even better. Just the Earth Seal itself nearly had them killed, and

the Heaven Seal was guaranteed to be even harder.

As for why he chose to draw the lottery here, it was because he didn’t want

to do it in front of Mi Li, which was why he intentionally spared the final

terracotta soldier for the time being lest he got automatically teleported out

for clearing the Earth Seal.

He had 49,217 Rage points at the moment, much less than the usual

amount. The terracotta soldiers did supply him with quite a bit of Rage

points, but due to their lacking intelligence, the amount he received from

each of them was limited.

In any case, he had 492 tries here. As Qiao Xueying’s life was already

hanging by a thread, Zu An couldn’t be bothered to do his usual rituals

anymore, diving straight into the lottery.

Chapter 178: You Actually Did that

Kind of Thing to Me

Thanks for participating… Thanks for participating… Ki Fruit… Thanks

for participating…

Zu An would usually feel depressed when he got ‘Thanks for participating’,

but he wasn’t even in a mood to brood over it anymore. He simply

continued redrawing the lottery again and again, praying hard to get what

he wanted.

However, his complexion slowly turned more and more awful. He didn’t

get ‘Faith in Brother Spring’ or any artifact or skill. He did get quite a few

Ki Fruits, drawing 49 of them… but that was not what he needed right now!

There were only two more draws left right now.

“Shit, I can’t possibly be that unlucky, can I? Oh please, Jade Emperor,

Gautama Buddha, and all of the great gods of the world, please bless me so

that I can draw a ‘Faith in Brother Spring’!” Zu An prayed.

However, the result of the first draw was still ‘Thanks for participating’…

With this, he was really down to his last try. A conflicted look appeared on

his face as he murmured, “Great gods above, please bless my draw. I’d

willingly not draw anything good for the next time if I can get ‘Faith in

Brother Spring’ this time around!

Zu An was just about to click on the draw button when he still felt worried,

so he supplemented, “Forget it, I’ll stake my luck for the next three times

here. As long as I can get ‘Faith in Brother Spring’, I’d rather not draw any

skills or artifacts at all for the next three times!”

He was feeling the pinch even while making the promise as he felt that he

was making a huge loss here. However, thinking about how Qiao Xueying

sacrificed half of her lifespan in order to save him and was currently on the

verge of death, he felt that he should at least do this much for her.

He had never felt so uneasy drawing the lottery before.

This shaky hands pressed down on the enter, and the light marker began

moving all over the Keyboard. When it finally stopped on the number ‘1’,

he was so moved that he could burst into tears. “O’ heaven, it looks like I’m

still your favored one!”

But looking at it from another perspective, the fact that he wasn’t able to get

it in the past few hundred draws, only for it to finally appear after he made a

vicious vow felt like the world was playing a nasty prank on him.

In any case, he quickly supported Qiao Xueying up. Her body felt

frighteningly limp and cold, making his heart skip a beat. He hurriedly

poured ‘Faith in Brother Spring’ into her mouth.

However, Qiao Xueying was unconscious at the moment, such that she

wasn’t even able to swallow the fluid by herself. Soon, a droplet of

medicine leaked from the corner of her lips.

It made Zu An’s heart bleed. That’s worth more than gold! Left with no

choice, he could only pour the medicine into his own mouth before feeding

it to her mouth-to-mouth. He gently guided the medicine down her throat

bit by bit.

Fearing that the precious medicine would leak out, he dared not to move his

mouth away, leaving the two of them in an amorous position.

‘Faith in Brother Spring’ was as incredible as ever. Not too long after she

drank the medicine down, Qiao Xueying began to slowly open her eyes.

The first thing she saw was a magnified view of Zu An’s face in front of

her, and it left her dazed by the sight for a moment before quickly snapping

out of it. She immediately pushed him away and shouted, “What are you

doing?!”

As she spoke, she subconsciously raised her arm to wipe her mouth because

she felt a moist sensation by the corner of her lips.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +123 Rage!

“Why are you wiping it away?! That’s precious medicine over there!”

exclaimed Zu An. “I’m not even complaining about your saliva here, yet

you’re acting as if I took advantage of you?”

Qiao Xueying’s body trembled. “You pervert! How could you do such a

thing to me while I’m unconscious?!”

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +168 Rage!

What’s with this woman? She’s so angry, but she only provided me with so

few Rage points? What happened to her usual 999s?

“What do you mean by ‘such a thing’? I’m saving you here, alright! You

wouldn’t swallow the medicine I fed you earlier, so I had no use but to

force-feed you.”

Qiao Xueying was stunned. She could indeed taste medicine on the tip of

her tongue, and the medicine seemed to be of rather high quality at that. She

had never drunk anything as potent as this before.

She could feel most of her injuries recovering. Even the arrow wound on

her shoulder didn’t hurt anymore; there was an itch instead, a sign that the

wound was in the midst of recovering.

It was then that she realized that she had misunderstood the other party. A

hint of awkwardness appeared on her face as she said, “Ah… I’m sorry. I

hope that you can understand that any woman would react greatly when

placed in such a situation.”

“That’s because they’re strangers. It’s not the first time the two of us are

kissing anyway, so why are you reacting so greatly?” retorted Zu An.

Qiao Xueying’s face reddened. “How can that be the same? I did it earlier

in order to save you. It’s not like I really wanted to kiss you or anything.”

Zu An felt wronged. “I also did that earlier to kiss you… Pui, I mean to

save you!”

Qiao Xueying felt a little awkward at the situation. She untied the bindings

on her and put some distance between the two of them. “Anyway, I kissed

you earlier in order to activate Half Life’s Fate. There’s nothing more to

that. We aren’t a couple, so please do not kiss me casually in the future.”

“Do not kiss you casually?” Zu An was amused by that remark. “In other

words, I kiss you as long as there’s a legitimate reason or if you agree to

it?”

Qiao Xueying felt that her mind was getting muddled by all of the

semantics he was arguing about. She exclaimed furiously, “How could I

possibly agree to that?”

“That’s hard to say,” Zu An said with the smile of a wily, old fox.

Qiao Xueying was made a little uncomfortable by his smile, so she averted

her gaze and murmured, “There’s not a chance that would happen… Hm?

Wait a moment…”

She suddenly realized something and turned over to glare at him, “If you

had such a medicine, why didn’t you bring it out in the first place? Did you

intentionally do it in order to trick me into using Half Life’s Fate?”

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +666 Rage!

There were all sorts of conspiracy theories filling her mind. I actually fell

for this fellow’s despicable plan and gave away my most important thing!

“I’m being slandered here,” exclaimed Zu An. “I paid a huge price in order

to get that medicine out at the last moment. If I had it all along, I would

have drunk it long ago! Besides, I didn’t even know of that Half Life’s Fate

or something skill in the first place, so how could I have tricked you into

using it?”

Qiao Xueying thought that those words made sense. Half Life’s Fate was

her greatest secret, such that even Shi Kun was unaware of it. It was

unthinkable for Zu An to possibly know of its existence prior to this.

However, when she scanned the surroundings, she couldn’t help but ask

doubtfully, “How did you manage to exchange for that medicine in here?”

“I have my means, of course. Just like how you paid a heavy price to use

Half Life’s Fate, I had to pay a heavy price for this medicine too!”

Technically speaking, Zu An wasn’t lying. Just thinking about how he

wouldn’t get anything good in the subsequent three rounds of lottery draws

made his heart bleed.

However, Qiao Xueying seemed to have misunderstood his words. She

thought that he had used some sort of skill he could only use once in a

lifetime like her, which made her feel incredibly grateful. “Actually… you

really don’t have to treat me so well.”

Zu An waved his hands and said, “Putting aside our history, you did save

my lives several times here, so I won’t leave you to the lurch. I count my

debts quite clearly.”

Qiao Xueying stared at Zu An in a daze as emotions rippled in her eyes.

Why is it that some people simply don’t understand such simple

reciprocation? In times of danger, all he cares about is himself.

Seeing tears welling up in Qiao Xueying’s eyes, Zu An shook his head and

said, “You’re feeling moved with just this much? Tsk tsk tsk, you must have

led a miserable life.”

“Nonsense, who is moved here? Sand just got into my eyes, that’s all. Look

at the dust flying all around the place!” Qiao Xueying turned her face away

as she grumbled obstinately.

“Since you’ve fully recovered, go and deal with the last terracotta soldier.

I’m too tired, so I want to rest a little,” said Zu An as he sat down.

“Alright.” Not daring to look at him, Qiao Xueying unhesitatingly made her

way over to subdue the last terracotta soldier.

“Pitiful fellow. Looks like he has turned into her punching bag,” remarked

Zu An. He took out the 49 Ki Fruits he had just drawn earlier and

swallowed them. A warm surge of energy flowed through his ki meridians,

leaving him feeling as if he was soaked in a warm spring. He felt incredibly

comfortable.

Hm?

To his astonishment, Zu An realized that he managed to fill up the sixth

formation after consuming the 49 Ki Fruits. One must know that the sixth

formation should have taken him 610 Ki Fruits in order to fill up!

He had barely managed to fill up the fifth formation earlier from consuming

a leaf of the Evanescent Lotus, so how in the world did he manage to fill up

the sixth formation so quickly?

But then, he quickly remembered the hellish battle he had just been

through, as well as the severe injuries he had suffered along the way. Had it

not been for Qiao Xueying’s Half Life’s Fate, he would have already died

numerous times.

The Phoenix Nirvana Sutra was a skill that increased one’s cultivation

through suffering a beating. It would appear that he hadn’t suffered the

beating in vain.

Of course, his greatest takeaway here was still the several centuries of

lifespan he had gained from Half Life’s Fate. It was such a huge gift that he

didn’t know what to say at all.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Qiao Xueying was walking back

after dealing with the terracotta soldier when she noticed that Zu An was

staring at her weirdly.

“I suddenly feel that you look pretty nice,” replied Zu An with a chuckle.

He intended it as an empty compliment, but taking a closer look, her skin

was fair like snow and her eyes twinkled like the stars. He instinctively

neglected her appearance previously since she was dressed as a maid, but

now that she was wearing normal clothes, her beauty was really starting to

shine through. It was no wonder why she was ranked amidst the top in the

Sweetheart Ranking.

Qiao Xueying blushed upon hearing those words. She spat, “Leave those

words to fool Chu Chuyan instead.”

“You aren’t even going to call her young miss anymore?” asked Zu An.

“I am a spy who infiltrated the Chu clan, not a real maid of the Chu clan.

Why would I continue calling her young miss?” Qiao Xueying sounded

oddly exasperated. “Besides, I made such a huge sacrifice in order to save

her this time around. I should have repaid the debt I owed to her all this

while.”

“Alright then…” Zu An still wanted to say something, but there was a

sudden gust of wind that reduced the corpses of the terracotta soldiers into

dust, causing them to dissipate into nothing. Soon, the space around the two

of them distorted as the familiar feeling of weightlessness swallowed them.

By the time the two of them regained their awareness, they were already

back at the underground palace.

Noticing that the two of them were standing at the center of the Earth Seal,

they immediately realized what was going to happen next from their

previous experience, and they exclaimed in unison, “Be careful!”

As they shouted those words, they grabbed the other party to leap away

from the seal. But before they could move away, they suddenly became

conscious of each other’s movements and fell in a daze. Then, the Earth

Seal suddenly opened up, and they fell to the third level.

“Oh? You were still arguing with one another earlier, but all of a sudden,

the two of you started holding hands and worrying about one another. I

wonder what happened inside to bring about such a huge change,” Mi Li’s

teasing voice echoed from the surroundings.

The two of them quickly retracted their hands. Qiao Xueying turned her

head sideward and murmured, “Who’s worried about him? I would have

lent a helping hand even if my companion was just a pig.”

“I’m not that kind-hearted as you. If it was a pig standing beside me, I

wouldn’t have bothered to even reach out to it,” replied Zu An.

“Who are you insulting here?” Qiao Xueying immediately turned over and

glared at him.

“Didn’t I pull you earlier? That proves that you’re not a pig.” Zu An

shrugged.

“I don’t need you to prove that I’m not a pig…” Barely as those words

came out of Qiao Xueying’s mouth, she suddenly realized how weird her

words sounded.

“Looks like men really can’t be trusted. Your wife is still in danger, yet

you’re still in the mood to flirt around with other women. Hah…” sneered

Mi Li.

Chapter 179: Heaven Seal

Zu An frowned.

This woman seems to bear a great deal of ill will for men. It seems like Qin

Shihuang has really broken her heart back then, resulting in her hatred for

all men in the world.

“Who’s flirting with him? Where’s the Heaven Seal? Let’s proceed to the

third stage!” exclaimed Qiao Xueying.

Mi Li’s voice echoed once more, “How unexpected. I never thought that the

two of you would be able to break the Human Seal and Earth Seal. While

you seem to have struggled quite a bit, it doesn’t seem like you have

exhausted yourself too much. This is truly a miracle. I’m aware of Ying

Zheng’s means; it shouldn’t have been possible for the two of you to clear

the two trials at all.”

Zu An knew that she was speaking the truth. For the Human Seal, if not for

Qiao Xueying’s extendable hair tripping over the copper giants and the

razor-sharp Poisonous Prick, it was unlikely that he would have been able

to defeat those astonishingly resilient, self-recovering copper giants.

It was even much more of a close shave in the Earth Seal. Had it not been

for the Magical Flashlight suppressing the terracotta army and the skillful

maneuvers of Sunflower Phantasm, he would have died many times over.

He was confident that even an expert of Chu Zhongtian’s caliber wouldn’t

have fared better than he did if placed in the same situation.

Even so, he only survived due to Qiao Xueying’s sacrifice via the Half

Life’s Fate.

“Since you knew that we wouldn’t succeed, why did you still put us through

the risk?” asked Zu An.

A peal of euphonious but chilling laughter echoed. “I have nothing to lose

anyway. Even if you fail, all I have to do is to wait a while longer for the

next batch of people to enter the underground palace. Time is one thing that

I don’t lack.”

“…” Zu An.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

“So we were just your guinea pig?” Zu An gritted his teeth when he thought

of the various times he nearly lost his life in the trials.

“You had the choice but to challenge the seals. I didn’t force you into this,”

replied Mi Li coldly.

Zu An really felt like leaving there and then, but knowing that Chu Chuyan

was still waiting for him, he could only swallow his anger down and said,

“Fine, let’s go!”

He walked up to the Heaven Seal together with Qiao Xueying and stepped

on top of the formation together.

There was a burst of white light. When the feeling of weightlessness finally

disappeared, the two of them froze in place. They thought that the Heaven

Seal would be fraught with dangers, but their surroundings hardly looked

threatening at all.

It was a peaceful sight of the countryside. There was a stream flowing

gently with a small bridge above it. The light breeze delivered the songs of

the birds far and wide. In the far distance, men could be seen plowing the

field and women weaving cloth by their homes. Chickens were roaming the

fields in search of food, and dogs were lying lazily under the sun.

“This is the Heaven Seal?” muttered Qiao Xueying uncertainly.

All she could see was a peaceful countryside village; she couldn’t imagine

any danger coming from here.

However, Zu An remarked deeply, “Don’t be fooled by appearances. This

village might just be filled with powerful experts.”

“Powerful experts?” Qiao Xueying looked at the people around and replied,

“Doesn’t seem to be the case. While few of them do emanate some ki, their

cultivation doesn’t seem to be even at your level. They can’t possibly be

experts.”

“What do you mean ‘even at my level’?” demanded Zu An angrily.

It was then that they realized that their hands were linked once again, and

they quickly retracted their own hands.

“It’s just in case we get teleported to different places!” Qiao Xueying’s eyes

swam around the area as she explained.

“That’s what I was thinking too.” Zu An was also a little astonished by how

he kept instinctively grabbing the hands of that foul-mouthed woman.

In order to alleviate the awkwardness, Qiao Xueying quickly added, “Ah, I

think we shouldn’t trust that woman’s words too. The fact that she’s sealed

here means that she’s an extremely dangerous person. If we release her

without preparing any means to curb her, there’s a chance that she might

renege on her promise and not save Chu Chuyan. In fact, it’s completely

possible for her to turn against us too.”

Zu An knew that she was referring to Mi Li, and he replied, “I know that

too, but there’s no other option at the moment unless we’re willing to watch

helplessly as Chuyan is tributed.”

Qiao Xueying fell silent. It was possible for the two of them to escape

alone, but Chu Chuyan would be a goner. She wouldn’t be able to live with

her conscience if that were to happen.

Zu An gazed at the faraway village and said, “Let’s focus our effort on

dealing with the Heaven Seal first. Judging from the dangers we faced from

the earlier two seals, the Heaven Seal is likely to have dangers hidden in

here too.”

Qiao Xueying nodded in response as she scanned her surroundings warily.

It was fortunate that Zu An’s medicine had allowed her to recover greatly.

She wasn’t back to her peak yet, but she was at least able to protect herself

now.

They walked over to the entrance of the village, intending to approach one

of the villagers to ask about the situation here. Unexpectedly, a dog that was

basking in the sun suddenly started barking at the two of them.

Zu An initially thought that it was some sort of ferocious beast, but no

matter how he assessed the dog, it looked just like a native Chinese dog to

him. Put in a world of cultivation, it looked as harmless as a sheep.

However, its barks quickly piqued the attention of the villagers. Quite a few

of them brought hoes and carrying poles with them and surrounded the two

of them warily. A brawny man stood forward and warned deeply, “Who are

you? What are you doing here?”

Zu An clasped his fist and said, “Hello, we were passing by the area when

we lost our way. May I know where we are at the moment?”

The brawny man frowned. “With that suspicious ratlike face of yours, you

must be a fugitive. Leave our village right now, or else we’ll be calling the

constables over!”

“…” Zu An.

What the hell? It’s one thing for you to say that I’m a fugitive, but

suspicious ratlike face? How can this dashing face of mine be ratlike?!

You should really get your eyes checked out!

Zu An was infuriated and about to lash out like a shrew, but Qiao Xueying

pulled him aside and stepped forward with a smile, saying, “Hello, fellow

brothers. My brother and I encountered some bandits a few days ago and

ended up having to flee desperately for our lives. It wasn’t easy for them to

shake them off, and we happened to stumble by your village right after. It’s

not our wish to disturb your peace, but we lost our luggage and possessions

along the way, and we’re now thirsty and hungry. May I ask you to spare

some water for us?”

The brawny man’s attitude immediately became much more amicable upon

seeing Qiao Xueying’s beautiful appearance. It was also only then that he

noticed that the back of her dress was stained in fresh blood, which further

piqued his pity. He quickly said, “Those bandits sure are hateful to harm a

young miss like you! Come in and have a rest, we’ll prepare some food and

water for you. We’ll get a physician to prescribe some medicine for you

too.”

Qiao Xueying was soon escorted into the village by a huge group of people.

Before leaving, she even blinked her eyes at him, expressing her glee in

full.

Excuse me?

What’s wrong with these villagers? I approached them amicably, but they

tried to chase me away as if I’m a thief. Qiao Xueying’s body was cloaked

in blood and clearly doesn’t look like a good citizen at all, but they ended

up getting so friendly with her?

Bloody hell! Is this world all about appearances? But my appearance

doesn’t lose out to her at all…

In the end, Zu An could only attribute the matter to the fact that Qiao

Xueying was a girl.

Hmph, despite the honest looks of those villagers, they’re all old perverts!

He trailed behind the group with a nasty look on his face, watching with a

sullen expression as the villagers delivered a cup of water into her hands

and even invited an old physician over to prescribe some medicine for her.

“Isn’t Snow being too unguarded here? Isn’t she worried at all that the

water might be spiked?” retorted Zu An.

It was fortunate that Qiao Xueying hadn’t lost herself in the preferential

treatment she was receiving. She thanks the villagers before making use of

this opportunity to gather some information, “Big brother Chen, may I

know where am I at?”

It had only been moments since she entered the village, but she already

knew the surname of the brawny man. It looked like women really had an

advantage when it came to this sort of stuff.

“This is the Dong Commandery’s Chen Village,” replied the brawny man.

“Dong Commandery?”

Qiao Xueying was stunned. She didn’t recall there being a ‘Dong

Commandery’ in the Zhou Dynasty.

Meanwhile, Zu An frowned upon hearing those words. He was aware that

Qin Shihuang was from the Qin Dynasty, and he vaguely remembered there

being a Dong Commandery under the Qin Country’s jurisdiction. It was

located in the Henan, Hebei, and Shandong provinces.

What’s happening in the Heaven Seal?

He had been carefully examining his surroundings all this while, and he

noticed that most of the villagers were ordinary civilians. Even the few

cultivators amidst them were not too strong either. It was hard to believe

that this was the final trial of the Soul Suppression Seal.

“Miss Qiao, you should hurry up and leave after taking a rest. You’re of

unknown background, so our village dares not to keep you with us. If

anything happens, our entire village might be collectively punished,” said

the brawny man named Chen Wei.

“Collective punishment…” mumbled Zu An.

The Qin Dynasty was known for its draconian laws that employed

collective punishments. In this era, farmers were bound to their lands,

forbidden from leaving their ‘allocated areas’. People who roamed into

other territories like Zu An and Qiao Xueying were either nobles or

fugitives. It would be one thing if they were nobles, but if the local

magistrate found their village guilty of harboring fugitives, everyone here

might be killed under the crime of failing to report the matter to the

authorities. Given so, there was no way they would dare to accept strangers.

“Thank you, big brother Chen, and all of the uncles and aunties here too.”

Qiao Xueying didn’t want to put them in a spot, so after chatting for a while

longer, they left the Chen Village. While waving the villagers goodbye,

Qiao Xueying asked Zu An softly, “What do you think is going on in this

Heaven Seal? I don’t get what’s happening at all.”

“I’m also having trouble making sense of this,” replied Zu An with a shake

of his head.

Qiao Xueying pondered for a moment before suggesting, “Should we try

searching the area to see where the other roads lead to?”

“There’s no point doing that,” replied Zu An. “Have you forgotten how it

was like for the Human Seal? We tried to enter the city, but we couldn’t get

in no matter what we tried. Since we were teleported to this village, the

crux is likely in here.”

Qiao Xueying bit her lips. She also knew that it was likely to be the case,

but this didn’t bode well for them since there was nothing for them to work

with. “What should we do now then? We can’t even enter the village.”

Zu An rolled his eyes. “Are you dumb? We can just sneak in at night to take

a look!”

Qiao Xueying sighed deeply and remarked, “These people treated me quite

well. I really hope that they won’t be our enemies.”

“The Chu clan treated you fairly well too, but you didn’t have any trouble

turning your back on them,” scoffed Zu An.

Qiao Xueying immediately blew up. “Are you done yet? Your words have

been carrying thorns since a while ago!”

“Is it? I’m just speaking the truth,” replied Zu An with a shrug before

averting his gaze awkwardly.

Qiao Xueying suddenly burst into laughter. “I get it now. You must be

jealous because you saw them treating me well despite having ignored

you.”

“Rubbish! Would I care about all that?” exclaimed Zu An as he walked

away. “Let’s take a look around the perimeters of the village to familiarize

ourselves with the terrain first. It’s going to be sunset soon.”

He wasn’t too worried about time here because he realized that the flow of

time in the trial was different from the outside world. As long as he didn’t

stall for too long, he should still be able to make it in time.

“Just as I’ve thought! Heh, what a narrow-minded man he is!” Qiao

Xueying followed him with an amused smile on her lips. Her mood

suddenly felt much better than before.

Chapter 180: Antares Occupying

the Heart

The village wasn’t too big, having only just dozens of families or so.

It was already nightfall by the time they finished circling the perimeter of

the village. The men working on the fields had returned home, and joyous

laughter could be heard from some of the residences. Of course, there were

also unfortunate ones filled with shoutings and sighs.

In any case, this was indeed a typical historical village.

Zu An and Qiao Xueying snuck into the village and listened in to the

conversations from various households, hoping to gather some clues.

“Hm? There are some weird noises coming from there.” Qiao Xueying

tugged Zu An’s sleeves and pulled him toward one of the residences.

Soon, when they were right by the residence, they were finally able to

figure out what those weird noises were—heavy breathing and the creaking

of the bed. There were also some flirtatious whispers between a man and a

woman too…

Qiao Xueying’s face reddened. She clicked her tongue and said awkwardly,

“How lewd it is of them to do this at such an early hour.”

“You’re too accustomed to the extravagant life of rich clans that you don’t

understand the hardship of commoners. Most of them are too poor to afford

oil lamps, so what else do you expect them to do after sunset?” replied Zu

An.

Qiao Xueying covered her ears as she scoffed, “Spoken like a true expert in

the topic. Enough, let’s head to the other residences.”

“Ah, this reminds me of a quiz. Do you want to give it a try?” asked Zu An.

“What quiz? Tell me about it.” Qiao Xueying refused to believe that her

intelligence was lacking, and the atmosphere was still quite awkward after

hearing those amorous sounds coming from the residence. Thus, she

decided to give it a try.

“Divine Physician Ji invented a medicine where the woman will succumb if

the man ate it, and the man will succumb if the woman ate it. If both the

man and the woman took the medicine, who do you think will succumb

first?” asked Zu An.

Qiao Xueying’s face reddened. She cursed softly, “That old man really is a

darned pervert! To think that he’s actually respected as a divine physician!

Instead of bringing solace to those suffering, he wastes his time coming up

with this sort of weird stuff!”

Zu An burst into laughter. “You can criticize Ji Dengtu all you want once

you return to Brightmoon City. So, what’s your answer to that question?”

“How could I possibly know the answer to a question like this?!” Qiao

Xueying turned her reddened face away.

“Heh, I knew that there’s no way you can figure out with that small brain of

yours. Alright, I’ll give you the answer. Naturally, it’s the bed that

succumbs first!” Zu An laughed heartily.

Qiao Xueying glared at Zu An and sneered, “If you dare to speak of such

crude jokes before Chu Chuyan, she’ll definitely chase you out of the Chu

clan.”

“Heh. She might chase anyone away from the Chu clan, but definitely not

me,” replied Zu An.

“I sure do wonder where your confidence comes from.” Qiao Xueying

harrumphed before stomping away to look for more clues.

Zu An shrugged leisurely as he quickly caught up with her.

A while later, they arrived at the village chief’s residence, which happened

to be the brawny man Chen Wei’s home. It turned out that his father was the

village chief.

As the village chief, it went without saying that their family was much

better off. At the very least, they could afford oil lamps. The shadows of

their silhouette could be seen on the walls as they chatted by the windows.

With a fearful voice, the village chief said, “Antares Occupying the Heart;

that’s the omen of an impending crisis!”

However, Chen Wei thought nothing of it. “Father, ‘Antares Occupying the

Heart’ is nothing more than an ancient legend exploited by those in power

to achieve their goals. How could something like this foretell disaster?”

“You don’t get it because you’re too young… When the world believes in

it, even something that’s false can become true. A crisis can be made to

happen by human will,” replied the village chief with a shake of his head.

“Even if ‘Antares Occupying the Heart’ does happen as the legends foretell,

the one to suffer would just be the emperor. What does this have to do with

ordinary civilians like us? In fact, it’ll be a day of celebration for us all if

that tyrant dies!”

“Shush! Are you tired of living?!” The horrified village chief immediately

muffled his son’s mouth. “That’s a crime that warrants nine familial

exterminations! If someone hears your words and reports it, we’d all be

goners!”

Chen Wei harrumphed in response, “It’s not like there’s anything wrong

with what I just said. The phenomenon of ‘Antares Occupying the Heart’ is

something for the emperor and the nobles to worry about. It has nothing to

do with us.”

“I hope so…” The village chief’s voice was filled with worry.

The two of them lost their mood to continue the conversation, so they soon

retired for the night.

“What does ‘Antares Occupying the Heart’ mean?” Zu An was perplexed

by the conversation. He was just about to ask Qiao Xueying when he

noticed that she was staring at the sky in a daze.

“What’s wrong?” Zu An also turned to look at the sky, only to see stars

scattered amidst the cloak of darkness. He couldn’t see anything amiss.

Thinking back, it had been many years since he saw such a starry sky due to

light pollution in the city.

With a worried look on her face, Qiao Xueying pointed to a certain part of

the sky and said, “Do you see the two brightest stars over there?”

Zu An looked in the direction where she was pointing toward and saw two

stars that were visibly brighter than the others.

“The one on the upper left side is Antares, an ominous star thought to be the

omen of disaster and death. There are three stars on the lower right side of

it; they form the Heart Mansion of the Twenty-Eight Mansions[1]. The

brightest one at the center represents the Son of Heaven, the emperor,

whereas the two by the side represents the crown prince and the common

populace. Right now, the Antares has halted inside the Heart Mansion,

positioned right beside the star representing the emperor. This is one of the

most ominous celestial events known as Antares Occupying the Heart.”

“Celestial event?” scoffed Zu An. “Do you believe in such superstition

too?”

Having been brought up in a world of science and logic in his previous life,

there was no way he would believe in such stuff. But on second thought, his

Keyboard system, the existence of cultivation, and all of the supernatural

elements in this world weren’t things that could be explained scientifically.

“How can that be called superstition? Every time this phenomenon occurs,

it would end with the sudden death of an emperor or a prominent official.

Sometimes, it could even result in great bloodshed!” Qiao Xueying was

displeased with Zu An’s nonchalant attitude.

This is a common knowledge everyone knows of, so why does that fellow

think nothing of it at all?

A thought suddenly surfaced in Zu An’s mind. “Say, could the trial of the

Heaven Seal be related to this Antares Occupying the Heart?”

Qiao Xueying’s eyes widened in astonishment. “I hope not, or else we’ll be

in grave danger.”

As she spoke, she suddenly realized that Zu An’s face was inexplicably

getting brighter. She quickly turned to the sky and saw that the night sky

had suddenly brightened up. A burning ball of flames was descending from

the sky.

“A meteor!” exclaimed Qiao Xueying.

“You actually know of meteors too?” asked Zu An in surprise.

“Of course! Don’t you know that powerful fire element and earth element

cultivators have a forbidden art where they can summon meteors?” Qiao

Xueying felt that Zu An was making a huge fuss out of nothing.

The fireball grew larger and larger in their eyes, such that they could see the

layer of flames cloaking its surface. Zu An murmured, “Where do you think

the meteor will fall? Surely we can’t be so unlucky as to have it fall right

where we are, right?”

Barely after he said those words, the meteor suddenly exploded,

fragmenting into multiple smaller fireballs. The impact of the explosion

seemed to have affected its trajectory, resulting in it descending toward their

direction instead.

“You and your wretched mouth!” roared Qiao Xueying angrily. She grabbed

his arm and immediately fled the scene.

The flames might appear to be faraway at first sight, but the speed of its

descent was incredible. It took only a few breaths to appear right before

their eyes.

Qiao Xueying’s face paled in horror. Such naturally formed meteor shower

was far more powerful those produced by a cultivator’s forbidden art. It

might look no more than a speck earlier in the sky, but as it came into

proximity, the span of the flames turned out to be so vast that there was no

way they could escape from it in time.

It was Qiao Xueying pulling Zu An away at the start, but it soon turned into

Zu An pulling her away instead.

Using Sunflower Phantasm, Zu An weaved around the inferno rain and

escaped. While it was easy for Zu An to avoid getting hit by the meteor

shower, it was hard for him to cope with the shockwave produced when

each fragment struck the ground. One must know that this bundle of flames

was as destructive as a missile!

On top of that, the heat swiftly engulfing the area was threatening as well,

swiftly devouring the oxygen in the area.

If Zu An had been a normal person, just a single bundle of flames falling in

his vicinity would be able to take his life. Fortunately, his body was far

more resilient than it used to be, allowing him to withstand the shockwaves

ravaging the surroundings for the time being.

It was just that the meteor shower was endless; the flames kept pattering

down, and it looked like there was no end to them. Zu An felt his entire

body aching, and the air he breathed in was so hot that it felt like it was

going to sear his lungs.

Qiao Xueying flicked her arms, and countless green leaves swiftly wrapped

around them, forming a barrier that shielded them from the impact of the

shockwaves.

“I feel like the wisest decision I have made today is to bring you in with me.

I didn’t know that you have so many functions to you,” remarked Zu An.

“And the dumbest decision I have made today is to come in here with you. I

feel like I’ve made a huge loss,” grumbled Qiao Xueying.

Another loud explosion occurred, causing Qiao Xueying to let out a groan

from the impact. She tumbled into his embrace as the leaf barrier she

produced showed signs of scattering. However, she quickly rechanneled her

ki to stabilize the barrier.

Noticing the blood sipping from her lips, Zu An quickly said, “Stay closer

to me and make your barrier slower. You’ll be able to better conserve your

energy this way.”

“No way in hell!” Qiao Xueying took a step back and intentionally made

the barrier even larger.

“The hell! Are women all that unreasonable and irrational?” Zu An couldn’t

understand why she was doing this at all. So, he reached forward to wrap

his arm around her waist and pulled her in toward him. By keeping a close

posture, they could reduce the surface area of the barrier significantly, thus

reducing the impact of the shockwave on them.

“What are you doing?!” Qiao Xueying struggled.

However, Zu An held her arm tightly and snorted impatiently, “What are

you making such a huge fuss for? It’s not the first time we’re hugging and

kissing anyway. There’s bound to be more dangers further on in the Heaven

Seal, so don’t you think you should save up some energy to deal with the

threats that’ll be coming our way later on?”

Qiao Xueying knew that he was making sense here, so after a moment of

hesitation, she decided to follow his instructions and decrease the size of

her leaf barrier.

It took a while before the explosions finally subsided. Qiao Xueying finally

dispelled the leaf barrier, and the two of them headed out from their hiding

spot to take a look around. The surroundings had been utterly ravaged. The

village had been set ablaze, and human figures could be seen rushing

around to rescue the injured and put out the flames. Cries could be heard

here and there.

Zu An fell silent.

The meteor shower was earlier was terrifying, but it’s not enough to be

considered as the trial of the Heaven Seal. Could there be more to this?

1. This is a constellation system used in China and East Asia, such as Japan.

Chapter 181: Paradox

In view of the help the villagers had offered her earlier on, Qiao Xueying

rushed over to help them put out the fire and transport the casualties. From

time to time, she would even use her powers to prop up collapsing roofs.

Unexpectedly, Zu An didn’t step forward to help her but headed to the

fields instead. Qiao Xueying wanted to call him over to aid her, but looking

at his departing silhouette, she clicked her tongue in annoyance.

What a petty man he is. Is he still holding a grudge against the villagers

over what had happened earlier?

Zu An headed toward the brightest place on the field, wanting to verify

something in his memories.

The earlier meteor had shattered into many pieces, and the largest one had

fallen around half a kilometer away from the village, smashing a huge

crater into the ground. Even from a distance away, Zu An could already feel

the heat gushing toward him, forcing him to channel his ki in order to ward

it off.

Even so, he was still unable to approach the center of the crater due to the

limitations of his cultivation. There were still traces of burning embers

around, keeping him at bay. Nevertheless, he had managed to find what he

was looking for.

A line of words was written on the largest meteor, leaving a bizarre

expression on Zu An’s face. He raised his head to look at the stars above,

wondering if heaven really was a sentient existence.

He returned to the village with a heavy heart. Qiao Xueying immediately

headed to his side to drag him over. “Where did you go earlier? Since

you’re back, you should lend the village a helping hand.”

However, Zu An shook his head and replied, “What’s the use of it? We

can’t change the conclusion anyway. It’ll be all in vain.”

Qiao Xueying immediately lost her cool. “How could you be like that? Yes,

they did treat you badly earlier, but you should know that it’s the result of

this country’s strict laws. What happened afterward showed that they have

kindness in their hearts. In the end, they still offered us water and medicine,

no?”

“To you, that is,” corrected Zu An.

Qiao Xueying was stunned. “You can’t really be holding a grudge over that,

are you? Can you stop being so petty as a man?”

“That’s not the issue here. It’s just that it’ll all be in vain. You’ll know soon

enough,” replied Zu An. “Let me give you a word of advice—don’t bother

wasting your strength here either.”

“I can’t be bothered with you!” Qiao Xueying harrumphed before diving

back to aid the villagers.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +11 +11 +11…

Zu An couldn’t help but let out a chuckle upon seeing the Rage points he

was receiving. She really is holding a grudge against me, huh?

A while later, the clobbering of horse hooves suddenly sounded in the

distance. Following that, an official led a platoon of soldiers over to their

side.

An uneasy commotion broke out amongst the villagers. After all, this was

an era where encountering an official usually meant nothing good. The

village chief quickly rushed forward and greeted the official humbly, “Lord

Wang, what brings you here?”

“How could I not come here after the earlier meteor shower? I need to

report this matter to the imperial court right away!” Paying no heed to the

village chief, Lord Wang gestured for his subordinates to search the area

with a wave of his hand.

The village chief hesitated for a moment before asking, “Lord Wang, you

see… Our village suffered a huge calamity, and almost every single family

has suffered great damage. Is it possible for the magistrate to spare some

money so that we can tide through this crisis…”

However, Lord Wang interjected before he could finish those words, “The

imperial court is tight on its finances at the moment. We’re fighting the

foreign races over on the northern border at the moment, and the

construction of palaces and imperial mausoleum all require money too. You

should be able to resolve something as simple as this by yourselves. Don’t

trouble the imperial court over mere trivialities!”

The village chief grew more agitated as he replied, “But our harvest is bad

this year, and many of our houses have been burned down…”

A soldier suddenly rushed over anxiously and interrupted him with an

urgent report, “Bad news, Lord Wang!”

Lord Wang angrily kicked the soldier and bellowed, “Show some

propriety!”

The indignant soldier rubbed where he was kicked while pointing in the

direction of where the fragments of the meteor had fallen. “Over… Over

there! T-there are words on the meteor!”

“Words?” Lord Wang’s eyes lit up. He immediately made his way over

where the soldier was pointing.

If it’s an auspicious omen and I report it upward, His Majesty might just

promote me in a spur of joy!

What was written on the meteor actually wasn’t too important at all. That

was where scholars came in. With their glib tongue, they could turn even

the most ordinary words into the greatest blessings for the Qin Dynasty!

After all, the fact that these words had come from the sky accorded great

significance to them!

A group of soldiers quickly followed Lord Wang’s footsteps to take a look,

and some of the curious villagers tagged along as well. Chen Wei rushed

forward to support his father as the two of them trailed behind the

procession. He asked softly, “Father, why did you beg that darned official?

It’s obvious that there’s no way he would donate any money to us to help us

through this crisis! You’re just asking to be humiliated!”

The village chief sighed deeply and said, “It was at least worth a try. For the

sake of the villagers, what do my pride and honor mean?”

Chen Wei sighed deeply before glaring at Lord Wang’s back with eyes

filled with hatred.

Lord Wang was still dreaming of being promoted and rising to the peak

when he finally saw the words on the meteor and froze up. He felt a chill

engulfing his entire body, and his legs suddenly turned so wobbly that he

could hardly remain standing.

His subordinates had to massage his chest before he finally recovered from

the shock.

“W-who is the one who carved these words?!” bellowed Lord Wang. He

pointed his finger at the villagers as he roared furiously, “You better confess

to your crime, or else none of you will be getting out of here alive!”

The village chief was perplexed as to what was going on. So, he walked

through the crowd to take a look at the meteor, only to see the following

words inscribed on it—’The Founding Sovereign Emperor shall die and

divided his land will be.’

“This… This…” He began trembling fearfully before suddenly collapsing

to the ground. It was fortunate that Chen Wei quickly reached forward to

help him up.

“Hah, do you think that this will be all over just because you fainted?”

Lord Wang was far too infuriated to let this matter off easily. Had it been

any other words, he could have easily twisted the meaning of the message

to turn it into an auspicious omen. However, what was inscribed on the

meteor stone was clearly a desecration to the emperor. He wouldn’t dare to

interpret it in any way no matter how brazen he was!

“My father has really fainted!” argued Chen Wei.

“I don’t care whether he really fainted or not. You better get to the bottom

of this matter, or else I’ll make sure every single one of you suffers for

this!”

After saying these words, Lord Wang took out a mirror to report this matter

to his superior.

Meanwhile, Zu An simply looked on by the side calmly. He noticed that the

mirror was similar to video calls in his previous life, and he couldn’t help

but marvel once more at how amazing the world of cultivation was. The

lack of scientific advancement didn’t hinder them from going globalized at

all!

Lord Wang lowered his head and back subserviently to the man in the

mirror as he reported the matter. After reporting the matter, he stowed away

the mirror before turning to the villagers with a hostile look on his face.

“Interrogate every single one of the villagers. If we don’t find out who

carved those words, all of you are going to die for this!”

A huge commotion broke out upon hearing those words. They were here

just to watch the drama, yet who could have thought that they would end up

getting implicated in this mess?

“It’s not us! We were all busy trying to extinguish the fire earlier on!”

“We can’t even read, let alone write!”

“We’ve been wronged! Everyone knows that I’m blind!”

…

The villagers immediately began crying for mercy.

Qiao Xueying pulled Zu An’s hand and asked, “Did you see who carved

those words? I was too busy trying to put out the fire that I didn’t pay

attention to what’s going on on the other side.”

Zu An shook his head with a heavy heart.

A villager suddenly pointed to Zu An and exclaimed, “I think I saw that

man walking toward the meteor earlier!”

“Indeed! Those two people are of doubtful background. They must be the

ones who did it!”

Many people quickly spoke words of agreement. With their lives at stake,

they were desperate to blame anyone they could.

…

Qiao Xueying was stunned. She had helped them out of goodwill earlier,

but they actually repaid her in such a manner.

“This is just how humans are like. Treat it as a lesson,” remarked Zu An.

Qiao Xueying shot a peculiar glance at Zu An. “Hmph, you talk as if you

have already reached enlightenment. You aren’t even that old yet.”

“What does wisdom have to do with age? There are people who have lived

for decades only to remain as fools,” replied Zu An as he kept a lookout for

the movements of the soldiers. He was ready to break out of the

encirclement if required.

Hearing the testimony of the villagers, Lord Wang immediately turned his

attention to the two of them. Their soldiers also quickly scattered in the

surroundings, encircling the area so as to prevent them from getting away.

Just as Zu An was about to make a pre-emptive move to curb the two of

them, a hint of doubt suddenly flickered across Lord Wang’s eyes before he

burst into laughter, “Ah, Lord Censor! I’ve been looking for you over the

last few days! I never thought that you would actually be here!”

“Lord Censor?” Zu An was dumbfounded. He thought that Lord Wang was

spouting nonsense so as to catch them off guard, but he soon realized that

that couldn’t possibly be the case. There was no reason for the other party

to spout such a meaningless lie.

Having played plenty of games in his previous life, he soon figured that this

mission was like an RPG where he took on an alternate identity for the sake

of progressing the storyline.

Lord Wang glared at the villagers who had spoken up earlier and spat,

“What nonsense are you spouting? This man over here is a censor of the

imperial court, so how could he inscribe such desecrating words on the

meteor? Watch your mouth before you speak!”

After berating the villagers, he turned to Zu An and said, “Lord Censor, the

imperial court ordered us to find the culprit within a day, or else we would

be stripped of our positions and sentenced to death. You have the highest

seniority here, so I’ll heed your command for this matter.”

Zu An knew that the other party was basically dumping the responsibility

on him, but he figured that this was the crux to overcoming the Heaven

Seal, so he accepted the role. “Very well, I’ll take responsibility for this

matter. Interrogate every household individually lest they collude on their

testimonies!”

“Yes, Lord Censor!” With a wave of his hand, Lord Wang ordered his

soldiers to split up and interrogate the villagers separately.

After relaying the instructions, he turned to Zu An fawningly, only to be

cast away as an annoyance. “Why are you still dawdling here? Can’t you

see that there’s a lack of manpower here too? Hurry up and get to work

too!”

“Y-y-yes!” Lord Wang nodded with his back bent respectfully.

Despite being treated like an underling, he was still gladdened that he

managed to dump this matter on someone else. Even if something went

wrong later on, the person who would take the brunt of the impact would be

the Lord Censor.

Once Lord Wang left the area, Qiao Xueying couldn’t hold back her

curiosity anymore and asked, “When did you become a censor here?”

“This is the role the Heaven Seal has allocated to me. Most likely, we have

to find the culprits who inscribed those words in order to clear this trial,”

replied Zu An.

“Hm? That sounds quite easy. It doesn’t seem as dangerous as the Human

Seal or the Earth Seal.” Qiao Xueying heaved a sigh of relief.

“You’re letting your guard down too soon. If we fail to solve this crime, it’s

very likely that we’ll be put to death under the Qin Dynasty’s laws. Lord

Wang is only serving as an assistant at the moment, so his punishment

would only be limited to being stripped of his position. Why else do you

think he would be so happy to see me here?” replied Zu An.

“But that’s the worst-case scenario, right? This case doesn’t seem too

difficult since there are only so few people in the village. Besides, there are

plenty of skilled interrogators amongst the constables, so they should be

able to get some information out,” replied Qiao Xueying. “Also, I’m able to

clear quite a few people too. Those who were trying to put out the fire with

me earlier shouldn’t have the time to approach that meteor fragment to

carve those words.”

“If only it’s that easy… There’s actually no solution to this problem.” Zu

An heaved a deep sigh.

He finally understood why this was the Heaven Seal. It had something to do

with the stars in the sky, and it was a trial that would lead to certain death.

“Why so?” Qiao Xueying was perplexed. “If I recall correctly, you headed

in the direction of this meteor earlier on. You should have been able to see

who it was that approached the meteor!”

“That’s the very reason why I’m saying that there’s no solution to this

problem…” Zu An paused for a moment before continuing on. “The words

were inscribed already on this meteor when it fell from the sky.”

Chapter 182: The Way Out

“How could that be possible?” Qiao Xueying was stunned. However, her

face soon lit up in delight as she replied, “Isn’t that even better? You just

have to speak the truth, and the villagers will all be cleared of suspicion!”

“How dumb do you have to be to actually say those words aloud?” Zu An

looked at Qiao Xueying with scorn in his eyes. “Don’t you know what the

implications of speaking the truth are? That’s basically affirming the fact

that heaven has decreed the emperor’s death! There’s no way the emperor

would let us off if we report it in such a manner!”

“What do we do then?” exclaimed Qiao Xueying. “We can’t say the truth,

and the villagers here are innocent too. We can’t possibly force one of them

to confess to it so as to be the scapegoat here, right?”

“It won’t be easy to pull that off even if we want to do so,” replied Zu An

coldly. “The Qin Dynasty has extremely strict laws. Such grave disrespect

to the emperor warrants nine familial exterminations! Who would possibly

admit to such a grievous crime, not to mention that they are wronged here!”

“Doesn’t that mean that it’s impossible for us to find the murderer within

the span of a single day?” Qiao Xueying felt her heart plummeting.

“There’s a way out of this.” Zu An turned his sight toward the villagers as

his voice started turning chillingly cold.

“What way?” asked Qiao Xueying.

“If no one wishes to admit to it, we just have to kill all of the villagers

living in the vicinity of the meteor. The culprit has to be one of these

villagers anyway, and the emperor doesn’t care too much about the

livelihood of his people. With that, we can successfully conclude this case

without a hitch,” replied Zu An deeply.

This was how the ‘Antares Occupying the Heart’ incident in the 36th Year

of Qin Shihuang’s rule unfolded in history. No one in the village admitted

to inscribing those words, so the officials eventually had all of the villagers

killed. They would rather exterminate everyone than let the murderer run

free.

Zu An was glad that he knew about this piece of history, so he knew the

way out of this paradox, allowing him to clear the Heaven Seal far easier

than the earlier two trials.

However, Qiao Xueying immediately objected to it,” That won’t do! It’s too

cruel. I won’t agree to it!”

Zu An frowned. “You should be aware that everything you see is just an

illusion produced by the Heaven Seal. They aren’t real people at all, so

what’s so cruel about this?”

Qiao Xueying shook her head vehemently and said, “But from our earlier

encounter with them, they feel no different from living humans to us. Even

if it’s just an illusion, I can’t bring myself to take the lives of so many

innocent people for my own selfish goals. You can say that I’m naive and

foolish, but this oversteps what my conscience allows.”

Zu An scoffed in response, “But you sure were decisive when you chose to

take my life, huh?”

Qiao Xueying’s face immediately heated up. “That’s a different story! You

were bound to be an enemy, not to mention that you’re very hateful too.

You can’t possibly expect me to show mercy to you.”

Zu An touched his own face and remarked, “Such a handsome face, and

you actually found me hateful? Looks like your eyes are nothing more than

adornment on your face.”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

It was then that Lord Wang rushed over and whispered to Zu An in a

suppressed voice, “Lord Censor, we’ve interrogated all of the villagers, but

none of them admit to knowing how to write. I think we should just…”

He pulled his thumb over his neck, gesturing to kill off the villagers. “The

murderer won’t be able to get away this way, and we’ll be able to remain

accountable to His Majesty.”

Before Zu An could reply, Qiao Xueying had already interjected, “That

won’t do!”

Lord Wang’s face darkened. “Young miss, if you have objections to how I

do things, why don’t you propose another solution then? If we don’t kill

these people, the ones to die would be us! Lord Censor, you must be

decisive at times like this!”

Qiao Xueying tugged Zu An’s sleeves, seeking his support for this matter.

Zu An sighed deeply and said, “Lord Wang, interrogate them once more. If

there are still no clues, we’ll figure out another solution.”

“I understand, Lord Censor,” replied Lord Wang with a nod.

Just as he was about to leave, a soldier suddenly rushed forward and

reported, “Bad news, my lord! The village chief died in the midst of the

interrogation, and his son is causing a ruckus right now. He turns out to be a

fairly powerful cultivator, and he has already injured quite a few of our

brothers!”

Lord Wang huffed in anger. “Preposterous! How dare he mess around at a

time like this? Anyone who tries to obstruct public order ought to pay with

his life. Kill him!”

“Yes!”

The soldier was just about to leave the area when Zu An suddenly stopped

him. “Wait a moment! How did the village chief die?”

“Lord Censor, the village chief was already ailing in health and the earlier

shock worsened his condition. Our brothers might have used a bit of torture

on him during the interrogation, but we made sure not to go too far! All the

other villagers were able to take it without any problems; the village chief

was the only one who suddenly dropped dead!” the soldier hurriedly replied

as he wiped off his cold sweat.

Zu An nodded in response. Considering that the village chief was already in

poor condition earlier on, it wasn’t too surprising for him to die in the midst

of interrogation. It was the standard practice in this era to torture the

suspects in order to get them to confess, so the soldiers couldn’t really be

blamed for this.

“For the time being, capture his son and lock him up. I’ll deal with him later

on.”

“Yes!”

The soldier quickly left the area to carry out Zu An’s order, and soon, Chen

Wei found himself surrounded by a platoon of soldiers. No matter how

violently he struggled, it was hard for him to deal with so many enemies at

once. Soon, his hands were shackled in chains, and he was locked up in a

room.

“Are you really intending to kill them?” asked Qiao Xueying anxiously.

Zu An turned to look into her eyes for a moment before asking, “Do you

really intend to save them?”

Qiao Xueying nodded right away.

He pondered for a moment before saying, “If you promise to call me ‘big

brother’ from now onward, I’ll consider helping you.”

“I…” Qiao Xueying’s face reddened. She was only able to call him that

back then because she thought that she was already on the verge of dying

and didn’t want to die ignorant. There was no way she could bring herself

to call him ‘big brother’ under normal circumstances.

Zu An sighed deeply and remarked, “Looks like you’re all talk. You spoke

as if you really wanted to save all of these people, but in the end, you can’t

even lower your pride to call me ‘big brother’ for their sake.”

Qiao Xueying huffed angrily. “You’re taking advantage of me!”

Zu An shrugged. “Have I ever claimed to be a saint before? Why would I

bother helping a bunch of people unrelated to me if there are no benefits on

the line for me? Not to mention, they even tried to backstab me earlier on.”

Qiao Xueying gritted her teeth. “Will you really save them if I call you big

brother?”

“Just to be sure, I’m expecting you to continue calling me that in the

future,” corrected Zu An. “Also, I’ll only be trying my best. There’s no

guarantee that I’ll be able to save them.”

“You can’t even guarantee success, why should I continue calling you big

brother? That’s ridiculous!” Qiao Xueying protested.

“Well, you can stop calling me big brother if I fail to save them, but you

should at least call me that at the start, no?” asked Zu An with a smile.

“Alright then. I hope that you can hold to the end of your promise.” Qiao

Xueying pursed her lips as her face blushed bright red. It took her a while

before she finally murmured softly, “B-big brother.”

Zu An leaned a little closer as he asked, “What did you say? You were too

soft that I can’t hear you clearly.”

“Don’t go too far!” Qiao Xueying glared at him angrily.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +33 Rage!

“What can I do? Your voice was too soft.”

Zu An was a little disappointed by how few Rage points Qiao Xueying was

contributing now. She used to be like a barrel of gunpowder, providing an

explosion of Rage points at the slightest jab. Yet, it felt like her gunpowder

had started to run low, such that her contribution of Rage points was getting

pathetically low.

“You’ll be dead meat if you dare to lie to me!” Left with no choice, Qiao

Xueying could only call out once more with a reddened face, “Big brother!”

Zu An burst into laughter. “Yes, my good little sis. How obedient!”

After saying those words, he began making his way toward where Chen

Wei was imprisoned.

On the other hand, Qiao Xueying remained rooted to the spot. She

subconsciously touched her own cheeks and realized that it was burning

hot. I must be going mad!

Meanwhile, Zu An stopped outside the room where Chen Wei was locked

in as he fell into deep contemplation. It should go without saying that he

didn’t choose to save the villagers just because Qiao Xueying called him

big brother. He was someone who had come from the modern world after

all. His values didn’t allow him to let so many innocent people die for his

own selfishness.

His logical mind told him that these villagers were just illusions created by

the Heaven Seal, but his senses were telling him a different story. All of

these felt far too real to him, and he couldn’t differentiate the villagers from

anyone else he had met before. He wasn’t willing to take this gamble, and

he didn’t want this to become a trauma that would haunt him for life.

As such, he had been racking his brain to figure a way out of this quandary

ever since he saw those words on the meteor. Even if Qiao Xueying hadn’t

called him ‘big brother’, he would have still tried his best to save them.

If Qiao Xueying knows about this, she would probably provide an

explosion of Rage points, right?

However, Zu An still decided against telling her. As compared to several

thousand Rage points, he thought that it was much more worth it to have

that lass call him ‘big brother’ in the future. The knowledge that she used to

be an enemy who made an attempt on his life made the entire thing even

more so exhilarating.

He quickly adjusted his mood before pushing the door open to enter the

room. Inside, Chen Wei was tied tightly to a pillar.

“Scum of an official, I knew that you looked suspicious from the very start!

This must be your scheme!” Chen Wei’s eyes immediately reddened upon

seeing Zu An, and he struggled to free himself from his rope to pounce at

the latter, only to no avail.

You have successfully trolled Chen Wei for +444 Rage!

“Hold still!” One of the guards swung his pole down on Chen Wei to

silence him before glancing at Zu An fawningly. “Don’t you dare disrespect

Lord Censor!”

Zu An nodded in response before saying, “I have questions to ask him. Wait

outside.”

“Yes, of course!”

The guards quickly made their way out of the room.

By then, Qiao Xueying had finally caught up with him, and she closed the

door behind her before keeping a wary watch outside so as to ensure that no

one came close.

Only then did Zu An finally start speaking, “I know that you have been

framed.”

“You scumbag, it was indeed you!” Chen Wei’s eyes gleamed in hatred. Just

thinking about his father’s death and the hardships the other villagers were

going through made his anger flurry.

You have successfully trolled Chen Wei for +999 Rage!

“There’s no need to get so agitated. I’m here to save you,” replied Zu An.

“Save me?” Chen Wei sneered with a frown. “Should I thank you for that

then?”

“Chen Wei, my… my big brother is really here to save you!” persuaded

Qiao Xueying.

Hearing those words, Chen Wei shot a deep look at Zu An before finally

falling silent.

“I know that you have been framed because I ran over the moment the

meteor fell. The words were already inscribed on its surface by then,” said

Zu An.

Chen Wei’s body jolted in horror upon hearing those words. “Doomed. Our

entire village is doomed!”

Zu An was surprised to hear those words from the other party. “What makes

you say that?”

The horrified Chen Wei stared blankly in front of him as he murmured, “I

thought that we might just be able to survive this ordeal if we find the

culprit who inscribed those words, but if those words are really a decree

from heaven… There’s no way the emperor would stand for something like

this! He’ll surely push the blame to us so as to put down the unease stirred

by this matter!”

Qiao Xueying couldn’t help but glance at Zu An. Those words were

surprisingly similar to what she had heard from him earlier.

Zu An also didn’t expect this brawny man to be so sharp-witted as to figure

out the implications right away. “It seems like you’re quite a smart man. I

do know of a way for you to get out of this, but I’m not sure if you’ll have

the guts to carry out.”

Chapter 183: The Real Way to

Unlocking the Heaven Seal

“I have never feared anything in my life, not even the heavens!” declared

Chen Wei proudly.

Zu An was impressed by how that fellow was able to speak so confidently

despite being in a bad situation himself. His mental fortitude indeed far

surpassed that of normal people.

“Very well. I want you to plead guilty and admit to having inscribed those

words,” said Zu An.

Qiao Xueying was still intrigued as to what kind of idea Zu An might have

when she froze up upon hearing those words. Wait a moment, isn’t that as

good as pushing him right into hell?!

“Hahaha!” Chen Wei also snorted in laughter. “I reckon that you were

unable to find the real culprit either, so you want to coax me into being the

scapegoat here?”

“I thought that you are a smart man, but it seems like I was mistaken. I

should have described you as ‘short-sighted’ instead.” Zu An shook his

head.

“You!!” Chen Wei flew into a state of anger. There was no one who would

be happy at being described as short-sighted.

You have successfully trolled Chen Wei for +256 Rage!

“Think it through properly. Even if no one admits to this crime, you’re

already doomed for death. However, if you admit to it, the only one who

needs to die here is you. Is that logic hard for you to comprehend?”

Chen Wei was enraged. “But that’s a grievous crime that warrants nine

familial exterminations! How can I possibly admit to it lightly?”

“Nine familial exterminations? Based on what I know, your mother died in

your younger years, and you have been living alone with your father all of

these years. Your father has just died, so who else would be implicated by

the nine familial exterminations?”

Chen Wei was stunned. It was at this moment that he realized that he was

the only one left in his family.

After a moment of contemplation, he shook his head and said, “That won’t

do. There are plenty of villagers who are at loggerheads with us here, and

we frequently have conflicts with one another. I can’t bear the notion of

dying for those bastards. Why should I sacrifice myself for their happiness?

I’d rather all of us die together!”

This really put Zu An in a spot. He thought that Chen Wei was the type of

righteous person who would be more than willing to sacrifice himself for

the rest of the village, but it turned out that his evaluation was completely

off.

“I don’t fear death, but I’m not content with dying in such a humbling

manner. A true warrior should go down with a bang! If our villagers are

destined to die, I’d rather inform them about the implications of this matter

and have them raise their arms in rebellion! The world has been suffering

under Qin’s tyranny for some time now. I trust that many would heed my

rally!

“You seem to be a righteous person as well. Why don’t we join forces and

do something great together? By then, you can become whatever you want,

be it a king, a duke, or a marquess. You won’t be tied down to being just a

humble censor!”

Chen Wei’s words were so passionate that they made Zu An’s heart race.

It seems like some people are born with the charisma of a leader. Their

words naturally rouse the emotions of others, and Chen Wei is one such

person. If not for the fact that I don’t belong to this world, I might just be

persuaded by him.

“How dare you spout such disrespectful words before an official of the

imperial court? You must be tired of living!” sneered Zu An.

However, Chen Wei didn’t look intimidated at all. He puffed his chest up

and said, “I reckon that you’re dissatisfied with the Qin Emperor’s

tyrannical rule as well, considering how you bothered saying so much to

me. Since that’s the case, why don’t you take a leap of faith and try for the

huge one? Are kings and nobles given their high status at birth?”

“…” Zu An.

Hearing that famous quote coming from several thousand years ago, Zu An

suddenly felt his mouth drying up a little. “By any chance, is it possible that

you go by another name, Chen Sheng[1]?”

“Chen Sheng?” Chen Wei fell into deep thoughts. “That’s a good name. I’ve

been wanting to change my name for some time now. Very well, I shall be

known as Chen Sheng from this day onward!”

“…” Zu An.

H-hold on a moment, what’s going on here? How in the world did Chen

Sheng pop out here?!

Zu An felt his mind being plunged into disarray.

If this fellow was really Chen Sheng and he ended up getting killed together

with the other villagers, wouldn’t there be no more ‘Uprising of the

Poles’[2]?

If so, the Qin Dynasty wouldn’t have fallen so quickly, which means that…

history is changing?

Zu An was stunned. The most important rule of anyone transmigrating back

in time was to not change history, or else it could lead to all sorts of bizarre

changes in the plotline!

It looks like I can’t allow Chen Wei—ah, it should be Chen Sheng now—to

die!

Cold sweat began trickling down Zu An’s back as he finally understood

how devious the Heaven Seal was. Most people wouldn’t be able to find the

culprit who inscribed the words and end up dead. Those who were more

vicious would attempt to kill all of the villagers to silence them, but Chen

Sheng’s death would inadvertently change the trajectory of history and stir

to a series of unpredictable changes that was unlikely to lead to anything

good.

To put it in simpler terms, there were two requirements he would have to

fulfill here in order to clear the Heaven Seal: He would have to punish the

culprit and remain accountable to the imperial court while ensuring Chen

Sheng’s survival.

Now that he thought about it, the record on the ‘Antares Occupying the

Heart’ incident might not be fully accurate. It was indeed stated that

everyone in the village had been killed, but it was possible for some of them

to escape, most notably, Chen Sheng.

If I had blindly trusted the historical records, I would have been done in just

like that!

Now that he thought about it, Snow was really his star of fortune. If not for

her insisting on it, he probably wouldn’t have been as determined to save

the villagers. Once Chen Sheng died, it would become impossible to

overcome the Heaven Seal, and he would end up dropping dead somehow.

Zu An quickly sorted out his thoughts and replied, “I’ll pass on that. You

shouldn’t bother trying to rally the villagers on your side either. All of them

have families to take care of, so how could they possibly throw in their lot

with you and risk facing nine familial exterminations? Besides, you also

mentioned that some of them bear grudges toward you, so there’s a

possibility that they might stab you in the back after refusing your offer.

Now is not a good time for you to make a move yet.”

Chen Sheng’s face darkened. He was overcome by passion earlier that he

failed to think things through carefully. Zu An’s analysis brought him back

to his senses, and he remarked in frustration, “What should I do then? Am I

to wait for death here?”

“If you trust me, you should admit to inscribing the words, and we can

conclude the case like that. I’ll find a way to save you afterward, and by

then, you’ll be free to do whatever you want,” replied Zu An.

Cheng Sheng didn’t respond right away. He stared at Zu An intently for a

moment before asking, “Why are you helping me?”

Zu An knew that Chen Sheng wasn’t the type to trust others easily. He took

a while to consider the matter before answering, “To be frank with you, I

wasn’t intending to get involved in this matter at the start. Things would

have been much simpler for me if I simply killed all of you. However, my

little sister pleaded on your behalf, and I’m not too fond of killing the

innocent either. That’s why I’m taking this risk to help you all.”

Qiao Xueying nodded in agreement. “Indeed! Chen Sheng, you can trust

him. He might have a suspicious-looking face, but he’s not a bad person at

heart.”

Zu An clicked his tongue. Are you praising or insulting me here?

Seeing that Chen Sheng still wasn’t saying a word at all, Zu An decided to

give it one last hard push. “If you aren’t going to agree with it, I’ll kill you

right away. I’m not going to risk you revealing the content of our

conversation to anyone else.”

Those words made Chen Sheng heave a sigh of relief instead. “Alright, I’ll

accept your request.”

The few of them continued to sort out the details before Zu An finally

brought Lord Wang over.

“He has already confessed to the matter. He was the one who secretly

inscribed those words on the meteor.”

Lord Wang was overjoyed to hear that. “I never thought that Lord Censor

would actually have a way to deal with this. I’m impressed!”

He beckoned his subordinates over and ordered, “Men, execute that

miscreant right now!”

“Wait a moment!” Zu An hurriedly stopped Lord Wang before pulling him

over to one side. “Are you intending to kill that suspect just like that?”

“What else do we do if not execute a man who has committed such

grievous crimes?” asked Lord Wang in bewilderment.

“You should send him to Xianyang[3] and have His Majesty judge him

personally. Perhaps, His Majesty might be delighted by your merits and

reward you handsomely,” said Zu An.

“Wise indeed!” Lord Wang’s eyes twinkled in delight. “Men, tie that man

up and place him inside the cage! I shall personally escort him back to the

capital! Lord Censor, do you want to come along with us?”

“I still have other matters to attend to, so I’ll have to pass,” Zu An rejected

with a shake of his head.

Lord Wang was overjoyed to hear that. “Lord Censor, I’m truly grateful for

your guidance. I’ll never forget the grace you’ve shown to me today.”

“Lord Wang, you’re too humble,” replied Zu An. I’ll already be more than

thankful if you don’t hate me for this.

When the villagers found out that it was Chen Wei who inscribed those

words on the meteor, even those who were close to him usually began

pointing fingers at him, criticizing him for his actions. Everyone had just

been taken on a trip to hell’s gate, so all of them were incredibly irritable at

the moment. Naturally, they would vent their wrath at the culprit who

nearly cost them their life.

Chen Sheng was infuriated to see how he was criticized by the villagers

despite saving their lives. He was just about to act up when Zu An walked

over to his side and communicated with him discreetly through ki

transmission, “Commoners tend to be ignorant, so don’t hold it against

them. Think about it optimistically. They rallied against you easily today,

but this also means that you can also easily rally them in the future to help

you with your ambition.”

A glint flashed across Chen Sheng’s eyes as he nodded discreetly. He

lowered his head silently and obediently followed the guards into the cage.

Both Zu An and Qiao Xueying exchanged glances before quickly leaving

from another direction. Once they were out of everyone’s sight, they made a

huge detour and laid in ambush at where they knew the convoy would have

to pass by in order to get to the capital, Xianyang.

In the end, they managed to save Chen Sheng without too much of a hassle.

In the first place, the guards weren’t too strong, and Lord Wang was too

anxious to claim his reward that he barely brought anyone along with him.

He would have never thought that someone would be so brazen as to

attempt to save a criminal of the imperial court.

“Lord Wang, what do we do now?”

The floored subordinates quickly gathered around Lord Wang’s side as they

asked anxiously. It was an absolute death penalty for them to actually let

such an important criminal escape under their watch!

“How am I to know what to do?!” Lord Wang was incredibly vexed too.

Not only had he lost his chance at a promotion, but it seemed like his head

was going to be lopped off at this rate too.

“Why don’t we return to the Chen Village and kill everyone? We can claim

that no one has confessed to inscribing those words, so…” one of the

subordinates suggested

“You fool!” Lord Wang smacked the subordinate’s head. “I’ve already

reported the matter to the royal court! I would be asking for trouble if I

suddenly changed my statement!”

Another subordinate spoke up, “What if we claim that Chen Wei tried to

break free and ended up harming some of our brothers, so we killed him on

the spot as punishment?”

“That’s a good idea. But how do we deal with the issue of the corpse then?”

Lord Wang nodded in approval.

“One of the prisoners have died in the yamen yesterday, and we haven’t

reported it upward yet. We could use his corpse in place of Chen Wei’s.

Those of the imperial court won’t recognize him anyway,” replied the

subordinate.

Lord Wang’s eyes lit up. “That’s a good idea. Quick, let’s get to action then!

We’re all tied on the same boat right now, so you better make sure to keep

your mouth shut! Understood?”

The others nodded in agreement.

…

Meanwhile, Zu An and Qiao Xueying brought Chen Sheng to a remote

place and said, “You won’t be able to return to the Chen Village anymore.

What are your plans now?”

“What about my father’s corpse? I can’t just leave him there…” Chen

Sheng frowned.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already ordered some of the men to bury your father,”

replied Zu An. “Of course, it won’t be anything glorious. It can’t be helped

since you’re a fugitive right now.”

“Thank you, benefactor. I’m thankful for your help.” Chen Sheng bowed

deeply to Zu An out of gratitude before saying, “Please do not worry. I shall

change my name from this day onward so as to not implicate you. Like I’ve

said before, I shall become known as Chen Sheng from this day onward.

I’m thinking of heading over to Yangxia City to seek refuge with one of my

good friends.”

“By any chance, is it possible that your friend is named Wu Guang?” asked

Zu An.

Chen Sheng was stunned. “How do you know that?”

“It was just a random guess. Well, I wish you all the best for the future,”

replied Zu An sheepishly.

Chen Sheng clasped his fist and said, “I’ll surely repay the grace you’ve

shown me today. Farewell!”

With that, he bade the two of them farewell before taking his leave. For

some reason, his departing silhouette looked rather stalwart.

As Qiao Xueying watched as Chen Sheng left, she asked the man beside

her, “Are you hiding something from me?”

1. Sheng means ‘Victory’. Chen Sheng is one of the rebels rising from the

farmer class, declaring himself the king of the Chen Country. However, he

was later put down by Zhang Han. He’s known for his quote ‘Are kings and

nobles given their high status at birth?’

2. As most of Chen Sheng’s supporters are farmers and peasants who don’t

have proper weapons, they tended to wield farming tools and stuff, resulting

in the coining of a term that literally translates to ‘Raise your poles in

rebellion’

3. Xianyang is the capital of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 184: The Woman in the

Crystal Coffin

Zu An clicked his tongue. “Isn’t it normal for me to be hiding things from

you? It’s not as if you’re my wife. You sure are nosey for an outsider.”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +666 Rage!

Damn it, I really want to beat this fellow up!

Qiao Xueying summoned her inner nirvana to suppress her rage before

asking, “How did you know that he went to look for Wu Guang? It’s almost

as if you know what’s going to happen next.”

“Oh? Why are you calling me ‘you’ instead of ‘big brother’?” remarked Zu

An in dissatisfaction. “Anyway, regarding your question, it’s simply

because I’m smart. In time to come, you’ll realize that I have many more

wondrous abilities in store.”

“Look at how gleeful you are acting!” Qiao Xueying harrumphed. Despite

her sharp words, she was still in a good mood after how Zu An had stood

forward and saved the Chen Village at her request, so she decided not to

hold this against him. “I wonder when the seal will be removed.”

“We might need confirmation from the imperial palace’s side first.” Zu An

was still a little uneasy about this. He wasn’t sure whether his plan would

really work out or not.

Meanwhile, Lord Wang had finished falsifying the crime scene. He

activated his Communication Mirror to relay the statements he had prepared

beforehand to the imperial court.

A short moment later, the area around Zu An suddenly began to distort as

the familiar feeling of weightlessness enveloped him. By the time he

snapped out of it, the two of them were already back at the familiar

underground palace.

“The two of you are actually unharmed… You were actually able to

overcome the Heaven Seal so easily!” Mi Li’s surprised yet delighted voice

sounded in Zu An’s ears. It would appear that she had never thought that

they would be able to overcome the difficult trials posed by the three seals.

Easy? Was it really easy?

Zu An thought about the process he had gone through in order to overcome

the Heaven Seal. To be fair, it was indeed not as difficult as the previous

two seals. This trial challenged not one’s cultivation or combat prowess but

one’s sharp judgment and… luck.

Zu An was extremely lucky that he chose to help the villagers in the end

and was aware of the fact that Chen Sheng mustn’t die there, or else there

was no way he could have figured out the only way to survive the ordeal.

Had it been another cultivator who was unaware of the history involved—

no, even if it had been another transmigrator who possessed the same

knowledge as him—there was an almost certain chance that he would have

ended up dying there.

While Zu An was still brooding over this matter, the seal formation on the

ground opened up, revealing a pitch-black hole.

“The three seals have been breached. You should be able to head out now,

right?” asked Zu An.

“My coffin is in the next level. I need you to pull out the sword on my

coffin in order to fully release the seal,” replied Mi Li.

Zu An was just about to head down when Qiao Xueying pulled his hand

and warned, “Be careful.”

Zu An nodded in response. “You should wait for me here. If anything

happens, lure the black-armored general here right away so as to get those

two dogs to bite one another… Ah, that won’t work either, huh? If she

really intends to harm us, I reckon that you wouldn’t have time to run away

either. Let’s do this instead. For the time being, you should return to

Chuyan’s side to stall for some time. If you don’t see me after an incense’s

time, you should inform the black-armored general of what’s happening

down here.”

Qiao Xueying was reluctant to heed Zu An’s words on this. “No, I’ll

accompany you down there. At the very least, we’ll be able to look out for

one another.”

“That won’t do. You won’t be a match for her even if you follow me down

there. Haven’t you heard of the saying ‘don’t put all of your eggs in one

basket’?” said Zu An with a shake of his head.

Qiao Xueying fell silent. She wasn’t a match for Zhang Han at all, let alone

Mi Li. If Mi Li really intended to harm them, her presence wouldn’t make a

difference at all. The wiser move was indeed to have her stay on top so that

they would have a card to deal with Mi Li if the worst-case scenario

occurred. “Alright then. Take care of yourself.”

Zu An replied with a nod before carefully jumping down to the next level. It

was a small, enclosed area with a luminescent crystal coffin sitting at the

center.

He was just about to head over when a cold voice suddenly echoed in his

ears, “Who did you say was a dog earlier?”

“Ah, you heard it all?” Zu An’s face heated up in embarrassment. It was

always awkward to be caught speaking badly about someone else.

Mi Li sighed deeply and said, “Old people tend to have sharp ears.

Somehow, I’m always able to hear it when someone talks bad about me.”

Zu An reverted back to his usual shameless self and rambled, “As expected

of Your Majesty, your cultivation has indeed reached an unprecedented

level where I can only look up to. Ah, my respect for you gushes like the

relentless tides of the Yellow River. I can’t even begin to fathom anyone

else coming close to your greatness!”

“…” Mi Li.

“Hmph. Your glib tongue reminds me of Zhao Gao[1]. It’s displeasing,”

snorted Mi Li.

Zu An was rendered speechless. He never thought that a day would come

where he would be compared to Zhao Gao, and the blow was doubled at the

knowledge that the latter was a eunuch.

That’s a low blow, a low blow!

“Enough! Hurry up and retrieve the sword floating in mid-air,” said Mi Li.

“That sword is the energy source of the Soul Suppression Seal. Anyone else

who approaches the sword would have been pierced by its sword ki before

they could even come close, but as you’ve managed to breach the Soul

Suppression Formation and obtained its recognition, you won’t face any

threat from it.”

“This isn’t another trap, is it?” Zu An was intimidated after hearing how

formidable the sword was.

“What do I have to gain from fooling you? I’m hoping to break out of this

seal too. Besides, you don’t have time to spare. Zhang Han has already

successfully suppressed the dead spirits and would soon be returning to

your wife’s side to conduct the blood ritual,” said Mi Li.

Recalling how Chu Chuyan was still lying helplessly on the altar, Zu An

gritted his teeth and made his way toward the crystal coffin. He noticed that

there were nine ropes made out of some sort of metal coiling around the

crystal coffin. These ropes were connected to an ancient sword that was

floated, its tip pointing downward at the coffin.

Even before walking close, he could already sense a powerful pressure

gushing in his direction, feeling his heart with deference. He gathered his

willpower and resisted the urge of kneeling down.

You must be kidding me! As a proud transmigrator, how could I kneel to a

mere sword?!

Standing above the immortals, gazing loftily upon the world, I shall

dominate heaven with my keyboard in hand. Millions of keyboard warriors

there may be in the world, but all shall lower their heads in my presence, for

none can hope to match I, the Keyboard Emperor.

Zu An murmured these words to cheer for himself. Perhaps it was a

psychological effect, but the pressure weighing down on him actually began

lessening, eventually reaching a point where it was neglectable.

“Hm? You’re actually able to withstand the pressure of the Tai’e Sword?”

exclaimed Mi Li in surprise.

“Tai’e Sword?” Zu An was surprised by how familiar the name of the

sword was. Isn’t this one of the ten most famous swords in history?

“Indeed. The Tai’e Sword is a Sword of Kingship existing since the

inception of the world, just that it was formless and unnoticeable. However,

its sword ki is already existent all over the world, merely awaiting an

opportune moment to gather. At the hands of the right person at the right

time in the right place, this sword will be formed. It was in the hands of two

master swordsmiths of our Chu Country that this sword was coincidentally

forged. One of our kings has once slain thousands of soldiers with this

sword in hand…”

Mi Li’s voice reflected her admiration for her ancestors.

“It’s just that when the Chu Country was finally defeated by the Qin

Country, this sword ended up falling into Ying Zheng’s hand. Ironically, he

ended up using this sword to seal me off.”

Looking at the sword floating above the coffin, Zu An was convinced that

the sword before him was different from the one he read about in his

previous life. This sword didn’t seem to belong in the mortal world; it felt

more like a weapon that had come right out of a legend or a novel.

Instead of retrieving the sword right away, he said, “To be frank with you,

Your Majesty, I’m a little hesitant about this. I’m worried that you might

renege on your promise to save my wife after I let you out. After all, we

have no way to curb you given your cultivation.”

“You don’t have a choice here. Zhang Han is already walking to the altar at

this moment. Your wife is going to die if you don’t free me soon,” sneered

Mi Li.

“I don’t deny that I’m anxious to save my wife, but aren’t you even more

anxious than me? I wonder how long have you been sealed here for. A

thousand years? Two thousand years? Or maybe ten thousand years even?

When will your next opportunity come if you fail to grasp this one?”

Mi Li fell into a state of silence. She was clearly not as calm as she

appeared to be. “Indeed, this is a rare opportunity for me too. What do I

have to do in order to earn your trust then?”

It was Zu An’s turn to be put in a spot. He had no idea what he could use to

bind Mi Li to her agreement. He recalled the lines he had heard in the

novels in his previous life and tried asking, “Why don’t we sign a master-

servant contract? You won’t be able to hurt me anymore in the future as

long as you acknowledge me as your master.”

“Hahaha!” Mocking laughter echoed in the room for a moment before Mi

Li sneered coldly, “Who do you think you are to make me acknowledge you

as your master? Even Ying Zheng was unable to make me submit back

then, let alone a kid like you!”

Black lines streaked across Zu An’s face as he exclaimed, “Hey, that’s too

much over there! You’re the one who told me to suggest something, and

now you’re getting angry at me for proposing an idea. What do you say we

should do then?”

Mi Li pondered for a moment before replying, “Let’s do this instead. Grab a

piece of paper and we’ll seal a contract with our respective terms. In

exchange for helping me out of this coffin, I’ll promise to save your wife

and not hurt you and the other two women. You should also be aware that

contracts have binding power in this world. Not even I am able to renege on

it.”

This was not the first time Zu An had heard of that, so he nodded his head

in agreement. “Very well! But where am I supposed to find paper here?”

“You fool! There’s no reason why paper is absolutely needed here. Can’t

you write on your clothes too? As for ink, you have plenty of wounds on

your body. You can just use your blood in replacement,” remarked Mi Li

coldly.

Zu An was irritated by her snappish tone.

This old woman sure is cranky. If not for the fact that you’re an elder, I

would have…

Unfortunately, he was unable to think of anything significant he could have

done to a person far stronger than he was.

Anyway, he quickly penned down the terms of the contract before

frowning. “There’s only my palm print here. The contract wouldn’t be

binding without yours, right?”

“You just have to bring it over for me to press my palm down on it,” said

Mi Li.

“Where are you?” asked Zu An. He searched the area around him, but the

voice sounded like it could have come from anywhere.

“You really are a thorough fool. Aren’t I in the crystal coffin right in front

of you?!” bellowed Mi Li.

“…” Zu An.

Damn it, it’s all because of this cranky old woman that I’m getting a bit

dumb here!

He sullenly walked over to the crystal coffin as he wondered how Mi Li

handled her daily needs inside the coffin.

Wouldn’t she need to pee and shit too? Ah, but she’s already dead, right?

All that’s left of her is probably just a dried-up corpse. Eesh, I’ve always

stayed away from horror stories and films in the past. Damn it, I hope that

whatever that’s in the coffin won’t be too scary…

However, he froze up upon walking over to the coffin’s side. He found that

what was lying inside the crystal coffin wasn’t a terrifying dried-up corpse

but a woman far more beautiful than his wildest imagination.

1. He’s a eunuch especially noted for the great power he wielded after Qin

Ershi took over the crown from the deceased Qin Shihuang. He’s known for

the saying ‘calling a deer a horse’, where he insolently claims that a deer

brought to Qin Ershi is a horse so as to probe the officials to see who is on

his side and remove those who stood against him.

Chapter 185: A Descent of His

Sword, And All Nobles Shall Rush

Westward!

The woman was dressed in a black dress, and her hands were placed

gracefully on her abdomen. She lay quietly inside the crystal coffin. There

was a hint of redness on her lips, making her appear seductive but, at the

same time, dangerous as well.

She had an impeccably beautiful face. Her skin should have been

unnaturally pale from being holed up in this dark underground cavern for

many years, yet such wasn’t the case. Perhaps it was due to the contrast

with her black dress, her skin gave off a luster reminiscent of white jade.

Her nose was curved in a shapely angle, and her lips glistened alluringly.

Her delicate lower jaws and her slender neck further accentuated her

moving face, making it hard for anyone to resist her charms.

Zu An had never seen the black dress she was wearing before, but the first

thought that crossed his mind was that it was the phoenix robe worn by the

empress. There were golden embroideries of auspicious beasts on the black

silk dress, making it look grand and graceful. It granted its wearer an

inexplicably imposing air.

The dress wasn’t fitted perfectly; it was slightly on the larger side.

Nevertheless, her beautiful curves were still vaguely showing through the

dress, hinting at just how great her figure was.

She was covered fully in cloth, such that only her head, hands, legs, and a

small part of her ankles were peeking out. Zu An couldn’t help noticing that

there were red bangles locking her hands and legs in place.

He had expected to see a mummy or a skin-and-bones old granny. Even in

the most optimistic situation, he thought that she would be a middle-aged

auntie or something. After all, she was Fusu’s mother, and Fusu was already

an adult when he died.

Through that calculation, it wasn’t too hard to figure that she had to be at

least thirty to forty years of age when Ying Zheng sealed her off. Even if

her aging had slowed due to the seal, surely being sealed for thousands of

years should have done something to her.

Yet, she miraculously managed to retain a youthful look. One could easily

mistake her for a young lady in her early twenties.

What the hell? Isn’t she a bit too young? On top of that, how is she so

beautiful?

“Have you seen enough yet?”

The woman lying in the crystal coffin suddenly opened her eyes to gaze at

him coldly.

Zu An’s heart jolted in fright. It was just a moment ago that she looked

alluringly beautiful, the type of woman who would become a man’s fantasy,

but the moment she opened her eyes, her disposition changed altogether.

Her sharp eyes carried an indescribable authority that made her feel lofty

and unapproachable. It felt like it was only right for all beings to prostrate

before her.

“Of course not. Do you know how pretty you are?” Zu An leaned against

the coffin as he propped up his chin with his hand, continuing to gaze at her

with a smile on his lips.

He disliked how she was acting as if he was a mere ant before her presence.

You might be an empress in the past, but the Qin Dynasty has already fallen

from grace. Stop putting on airs here!

“…” Mi Li.

She was a little taken aback by Zu An’s response. All other men, with the

exception of Ying Zheng, were terrified by her presence, not daring to even

breathe loudly. It was rare that a man actually dared to smile and even tease

her.

“Stop talking nonsense and hand the contract over so that I can seal it,” said

Mi Li. I’ll punish this fellow later on for his insolence.

“Alright.” Zu An was also worried about Chu Chuyan’s safety, so he dared

not to delay this matter at all. He pushed the lid of the crystal coffin away,

and a chilling air immediately gushed his way, making him shudder

uncontrollably.

“What the hell! You were actually lying in a place like this for several

thousand years?! It must have really been tough on you!” Zu An rubbed his

own shoulders as he exclaimed in horror.

“Yes, it has indeed been tough…” murmured Mi Li with a brooding look on

her face.

She had been stuck here so long that she had forgotten most of her

emotions, so Zu An’s sudden concern left her feeling a little wistful.

However, she didn’t allow her emotions to show through. Instead, she

scoffed coldly, “If you want to know, you can try lying in here yourself.”

“Really? This crystal coffin doesn’t look big enough for two though. I’ll

probably end up crushing you if I come in as well. Are you sure that you

don’t mind?” asked Zu An with a hint of delight in his voice.

“…” Mi Li.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +444 Rage!

She had no idea how Zu An was able to twist her provocation in such

ridiculous manners to tease her.

“Do you know what’s the consequences of teasing me?” Mi Li’s voice

turned cold as she looked at Zu An severely.

“It’s only normal that I react this way after witnessing your beauty. What

can I do when you’re that good looking?” replied Zu An with a smile.

“Besides, are you really thinking of killing me over this?”

“Death would only come as a solace to you. I’ll dig out your eyeballs and

sever your tongue,” threatened Mi Li coldly.

“But aren’t you going to sign a contract with me? You won’t be able to

harm me by then.” Zu An shrugged away her threats nonchalantly.

Mi Li was stunned. “Is that why you’re acting so fearlessly?”

Zu An nodded. “Of course. I need to test if your contract is reliable or not.

How can I trust you if you’re going to threaten me each time I casually drop

a remark?”

“…” Mi Li.

Zu An’s argument sounded so solid that she was actually unable to find a

rebuttal to it for a very long while. In the end, she harrumphed impatiently

and said, “Stop wasting time and bring the contract over.”

Zu An passed the contract over to her, only to see her remaining completely

motionless, not reaching to receive the contract at all. The two of them

ended up staring at one another blankly.

“You can’t move?”

“You don’t say!”

Zu An chuckled sheepishly, “Ahahaha, I’ll help you then.”

He reached out to grab her hand, only to be shocked by the sheer coldness

of her body. The coldness was so biting that it seemed to seep right into his

bones.

“Are you a human or a ghost?” asked Zu An with a gulp.

“What do you think?” Mi Li looked at him with a menacing smile.

After finally adapting to the shocking coldness, Zu An’s attention was soon

captured by the astonishing elasticity of her hand. He couldn’t help but

pinch her hands a little. Then, his gaze slowly trailed over to her chest, and

he murmured softly, “I guess I need to try it to find out.”

However, the sheer murderous intent in her eyes was enough to make him

back down fearfully. He grumbled in complaint, “You were the one who

refused to answer my question first.”

Then, he dabbed some blood on her finger before imprinting it on the

contract.

Mi Li was just about to say something when her body suddenly shuddered.

Her gaze fell upon the bloodstains on his body, and her eyes grew

contemplative.

However, Zu An didn’t notice her reaction at all. He heaved a sigh of relief

before stowing the contract away in his robes. Then, he turned to the sword

above the coffin and asked, “I just have to take the sword down, right?”

“That’s right. Be careful, and make sure that you don’t let it slip down. I

have no wish of being stabbed to death at the final moment,” replied Mi Li.

Zu An was perplexed. “If this sword could kill you, why didn’t Ying Zheng

do it back then? It’s really weird that he went through the trouble of sealing

you.”

“You sure have a whole lot of questions. Your wife will really be dead if

you continue dawdling here,” remarked Mi Li.

Zu An’s heart palpitated in unease when he recalled the situation Chu

Chuyan was in. Not daring to waste any more time, he leaped into the air

and grabbed the metal chain with one hand and the Tai’e Sword with the

other.

The moment his hand came into contact with the sword’s handle, his entire

body suddenly jerked, and his mind was plunged into chaos. By the time he

finally snapped out of it, he realized that he was no longer in the

underground palace but a resplendent hall.

He couldn’t construe words that could aptly describe just how grand the hall

was. It made him feel incomparably insignificant, as if he was no more than

a speck of dust before everything else.

“You’re here,” an authoritative voice suddenly sounded.

Zu An immediately turned his gaze over. A Dragon Throne was placed at

the forefront of the hall, and a black-robed man was seated upright on top of

it. His very presence was overpowering, as if everything in the world was

under his thumb.

Woah, his disposition is indeed top-notch. He’s able to look cool just by

sitting there. If only I could learn half of his skills—no, even 10% would

suffice—I would be the coolest kid on the street!

“Who are you?” asked Zu An with narrowed eyes.

The man seated on the Dragon Throne had his appearance veiled by a layer

of mist, making it impossible to discern his looks. However, Zu An soon

noticed the Five-clawed Golden Dragon[1] embroidered on the man’s black

robe, and a thought surfaced in his mind. “You are the Founding Sovereign

Emperor?”

“It matters not who I am,” replied the name donned in the dragon robe.

“What’s important is that you’re here.”

Zu An gulped.

What the hell is going on here? Has he found out that I’m intending to save

his empress, so he’s going to kill me now? Wait a moment, I even teased Mi

Li earlier on! Could he have been spying on me all this while? Goddamnit,

I’m a goner then!

The man wearing the dragon robe rose to his feet, which sent Zu An

retreating several steps out of fear. It was just that this hall was freakishly

huge, such that he was unable to find the exit even after scanning the area.

“You need not fear. I don’t plan to take your life.” Seeing right through Zu

An’s worries, the man wearing the dragon robe said. “A man who can

overcome the Human, Earth, and Heaven Seal is one who is wise and

blessed with luck. You’re worthy of the undertaking.”

“Regarding that… I’m still lacking in terms of training, so I fear that I’m

going to let down your expectations. Why don’t you find another person

instead?” asked Zu An hesitantly.

Given how gravely the man wearing the dragon robe was speaking, he

figured that the other party was going to issue an incredibly difficult

mission. It’s probably something that will require me to charge through the

fields of hell or something. No way I’m going to do that!

“Very well,” replied the man in the dragon robe.

Zu An was surprised, not expecting the other party to be so easy to

negotiate with. He quickly added, “Since that’s the case, I’ll be taking my

leave now.”

After saying those words, he turned around and quickly speed walked away.

However, the resounding roar of a dragon suddenly sounded—the man in

the dragon robe had drawn his sword. Puffs of smoke was stirring in front

of Zu An, and vaguely he seemed to see an entire army staring quietly at

him.

A descent of his sword, and all nobles shall rush westward[2]!

For some reason, Zu An couldn’t help but remember a poem he had read in

his previous life.

It was then that the man spoke with cold authority, “No one in the world

can reject me. The only fate that awaits those who dares is death!”

“I-I was just joking earlier! Elder, please feel free to ask anything of me! Be

it scaling a mountain of swords or descending in a sea of flames, I’ll do it

without batting an eyelid!” Zu An immediately changed his words right

away.

A black object suddenly flew in Zu An’s direction, and he subconsciously

reached out to grab hold of it. It was only after catching it that he realized

that it was a sword. When he raised his head once more, he realized that the

man in the dragon robe wasn’t holding onto anything anymore.

The sword Zu An was holding right now was the same one that the man in

the dragon robe had unsheathed earlier, and upon closer examination, he

realized that it was actually the Tai’e Sword!

“With Tai’e in hand, seek out West Houndhill[3], and you’ll know what you

must do,” said the man in the dragon robe.

1. The Five-clawed Golden Dragon is a symbol reserved specifically only

for the emperor.

2. This is a description praising Qin Shihuang, saying that all nobles would

rush to Xianyang to submit to the Qin Country at his orders.

3. This is the place where Qin Feizi’s father, Da Luo, lived with his

brothers. Qin Feizi is the founding king of the Qin Country.

Chapter 186: Primordial Origin

Sutra

“West Houndhill?” As a keyboard warrior who used to hang out in forums

in his previous life, Zu An had some impression of this name. It seemed to

be an auspicious ancestral land for the Qin Royal Family.

But still, why can’t you just tell me what I’m heading to the West Doghill

for? Why are experts like you fond of playing it secretive? Do you actually

think that doing this makes you appear wise?

“Remember, you must bring Tai’e with you to West Houndhill,” instructed

the man in the dragon robe.

“Why?” asked Zu An.

“Tai’e is the key into the West Houndhill.”

“Key?”

Zu An looked at the sword in his hand as he wondered just how large the

door must be to require such a massive key.

“Of course, I won’t make you work in vain. Sealed in Tai’e is the first half

of the Primordial Origin Sutra. It can temper your body and has a strong

cleansing and recovery effect. It should be of great help to you.”

“Primordial Origin Sutra?” repeated Zu An.

Just from the name itself, he could tell that it was likely to be something

formidable. He could care less about the tempering and cleansing effect, but

the recovery effect was something that he direly needed at the moment.

The Phoenix Nirvana Sutra’s ability to strengthen his body when he was

low on health was indeed formidable, but it was very dangerous too. If he

failed to keep a close eye on his health bar and accidentally overstepped his

limits, it would really spell the end for him.

On top of that, most recovery medicines took quite some time to take effect,

including Divine Physician Ji. If he was in a critical condition, it was

unlikely that those medicines wouldn’t be able to save his life. In the end,

the only one that was truly reliable was ‘Faith in Brother Spring’, but it was

simply too hard to draw it from the lottery.

“How do I cultivate the skill?” asked Zu An.

“Immerse your consciousness on the sword, and you’ll be able to feel it,”

replied the man in the dragon robe.

Zu An was worried that the other party would try to possess him, so he

made sure to keep a sliver of his consciousness in his surroundings. After

all, it was a common plot in the drama series and novels he had seen in the

past.

He tried focusing his consciousness on the Tai’e Sword, and a series of

words emerged in his mind.

“Heaven and earth yet severed in the primordial, bleak and unseen.

Everything originates from the primordial…”

It was then that the Keyboard’s voice sounded, “Detected: Westhound Hill’s

Secret Scroll - [Primordial Origin Sutra]. Consume it to activate a keyboard

function?”

Zu An was overjoyed. What an unexpected surprise! I actually managed to

find another secret art here?

He quickly accepted the option. Black mist swiftly gushed into the F3 key,

forming a mysterious imprint on it.

“Begin tempering your body?” prompted the Keyboard.

Tempering my body? What does this mean?

However, fearing that he would miss this opportunity if he rejected the

option, he quickly selected ‘Yes’.

Following that, he saw a surge of black mist gushing out from the Keyboard

and embracing his body. He had a feeling that the world’s ki—no, it was a

power that was much purer and nourishing than ki, something that he had

never sensed before—gushing into his body.

Is this the ‘primordial ki’ which books often talk about?

He could sense that his body and meridians were being reforged by the

primordial ki gushing into his body. It felt like he was soaked comfortably

in a warm spring, but from time to time, there would be a sharp tearing

sensation as if someone was sawing him up.

It was fortunate that the pain receded swiftly, and there was a vague feeling

of exhilaration after each burst of pain. If not for that, he would have

thought that he had fallen into the other party’s trap.

“Detected sealed ki core under the abdomen. Dispel the seal?” prompted the

Keyboard once more.

Zu An was stunned for a moment there before ravenous joy soaked his

entire being, and he nearly leaped up in excitement. “Yes, dispel it!”

The primordial ki gushed toward his abdomen in order to break open the

seal, similar to how the energy from the petal of the Evanescent Lotus did

earlier. However, what was different was that the primordial ki was much

more concentrated and powerful. The energy from the Evanescent Lotus

might not be enough to knock down the seal, but under the forceful

ramming of the primordial ki, the bottleneck that stood in his way earlier

began loosening.

As if sensing the commotion over here, the primordial ki in the other parts

of his body was swiftly channeled over to lend a helping hand. It didn’t take

long for all of the primordial ki to be concentrated in his abdomen, leaving

Zu An feeling deeply nervous.

He remembered hearing from Old Mi that the region was extremely fragile,

and even the slightest mistake could easily result in irreversible damage.

The primordial ki better not make a mistake here! I might be sealed right

now, but at least I’m still a man! If this primordial ki were to strike too hard

and accidentally knock ‘it’ off, I might just ram my head into a pillar and

end my life right here right now!

It was fortunate that the primordial ki was far more formidable than he had

expected. Soon, there was a vague ‘pop’ sound. Zu An sensed something

which had been blocked for many years had finally opened up, leaving him

refreshed and invigorated. His body suddenly felt lighter than ever.

He might not know much about the seal, but he knew that whatever that

was planted on him previously had finally been undone.

What made things better was that the primordial ki didn’t dissipate after

breaking the seal down. It continued to circulate around his body to temper

it.

Zu An lowered his head to take a look, and his eyes swiftly reddened from

sheer excitement. The little chick which he had been feeling greatly

insecure about had finally unfurled its wings and matured into a grand roc!

That very feeling that he would wake up every morning to in his previous

life was finally back!

Zu An was tempted to raise his head and howl like a wolf to vent the

overflowing feelings welling up in his heart.

Finally, finally! I’ve finally managed to get back what I’ve lost!

All this while, everyone thought that I’ve been living the high life. Suave,

handsome, kind, and having a wonderful wife; I’m the very embodiment of

a winner in life! Yet, only I know the best that it was all just a facade. If I

can’t even work it down there, everything else is meaningless.

Rejoice, for all those days of wallowing in despair over my impotence is

finally over!

Were it not for the fact that it was too embarrassing to tell others that he

used to be impotent, he would have clanged the gongs and went around

announcing this joyous news to everyone!

Then, he lowered his head to take another look, only to jolt in fright. “But

this… isn’t this a little too exaggerated?”

Watching as the remaining bits of primordial ki continued to temper his

body, he felt a little embarrassed but gleeful at the same time. By the time

the tempering came to an end, his body had already fully recovered from its

previous wounds, and he was overflowing with energy. He felt stronger

than ever.

It was then that the Keyboard’s voice sounded once more, “Unable to

unlock the new function due to the incompletion of the Primordial Origin

Sutra.”

“Hm?” Zu An was stunned for a moment before realizing that he only had

the upper half of the Primordial Origin Sutra.

“You’re blessed with talent and luck. It’s unexpected that you’re able to

complete the first level of tempering so quickly. Your strength, resilience,

and recovery ability have been greatly enhanced from before,” said the man

in the dragon robe.

“Every level you advance in the Primordial Origin Sutra, your body will

undergo transformative changes. Cultivators of the same rank will find it

hard to hurt you, and the damage you receive from the attacks of higher

rank cultivators would be greatly reduced too. If you’re able to reach the

highest level of the skill, as long as you aren’t ground to ashes, your body

will be able to regenerate back to its original state. By then, you’ll become

the strongest man in the world!

“However… can you stop pointing that thing at me?”

Zu An was flustered. He squirmed around uncomfortably as he tried hiding

his own body, saying, “My apologies. I have only just finished tempering

my body. This is a natural reaction, a natural reaction!”

The man in the dragon robe harrumphed coldly as he said, “Of course I

know that! How else do you think that you’re still able to speak to me?”

Zu An scratched his head sheepishly as he changed the topic, “Speaking of

which, why is there only the upper half of the Primordial Origin Sutra here?

May I know where the lower half is?”

“The lower half is in the West Houndhill,” replied the man in the dragon

robe. “You’ll be able to obtain it when you get there in the future.”

Zu An couldn’t help but doubt if that man was doing it intentionally. You’re

giving me a taste of the Primordial Origin Sutra in advance before telling

me that it’s split into half so as to force me to do your bidding.

In any case, it was all worth it since he was able to release the seal on his

little brother, not to mention that this skill was able to be used together with

the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra. One needed him to be severely injured and the

other allowed him to recover quickly. This was the perfect combo!

“The Primordial Origin Sutra requires you to practice it often. The more

you use it, the easier it is for you to advance to the next level. Protect

yourself well. Don’t die before managing to find the West Houndhill,” said

the man in the dragon robe.

“Thank you for your advice, elder. May I know how I can find the West

Houndhill?” replied Zu An.

The man in the dragon robe fell silent for a long while before finally

replying, “I don’t know.”

“Is there no writings, maps, or anything that serves as a clue?” asked Zu

An.

“There’s nothing at all.” The man in the dragon robe shook his head.

“Nothing at all?” Zu An was alarmed. Isn’t this a darned trap? Given how

big the world is, how am I to find a single location without any clues at all?!

The man in the dragon robe continued, “I am just a sliver of a soul at the

moment. My knowledge is limited, and much time has passed since then.

The West Houndhill might not be at the same place it used to be. You can

only count on yourself for that.”

His figure began to turn faint, looking as if he would vanish at any moment.

Zu An anxiously asked, “Is there a time limit to this mission?”

“None at all. However, my memories tell me that you should accomplish

this mission as soon as possible,” replied the man in the dragon robe.

Zu An heaved a sigh of relief. He was glad that there was no time limit

here, so he could take his time to look for the West Houndhill.

The aura of the man in the dragon robe grew even fainter as he said, “I’m

about to vanish soon. Ask if you have any other questions, and I’ll answer

you.”

“How should I deal with the woman in the crystal coffin?” asked Zu An

carefully.

A sharp glint flashed across the eyes of the man in the dragon robe as he

replied, “Kill her!”

“Kill her?” Zu An was stunned. The two of you used to be a couple after

all, is there a need to be so vicious? Not to mention, it’s such a pity to kill a

woman as beautiful as she is… “But she’s much stronger than me. How can

I bear to kill her?”

“You can do it… Use the Primordial Origin Sutra… purify…” The man in

the dragon robe finally dissipated, leaving just a few murmurs behind.

The sight before Zu An blurred, and by the time he snapped out of his daze,

he was already back in the underground palace. Held in his hand was the

Tai’e Sword.

“What are you dazing off up there for? Hurry up and get down here!”

shouted Mi Li.

Chapter 187: Accident

Zu An released the rope and leaped down from mid-air, saying, “You are

more anxious than I thought.”

Mi Li’s face darkened. “Are you taking advantage of me?”

“How could I dare to do that?” Zu An was in a good mood at the moment.

“Alright, I’ve retrieved the sword now. Are you able to move now?”

“Use the Tai’e Sword to sever the shackles on my limbs…” Mi Li suddenly

gasped when she noticed the monster that was growing beneath his

abdomen. Her face reddened as she bellowed, “How dare you harbor that

sort of filthy thoughts of me!”

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +678 Rage!

Zu An was immediately placed in an awkward position. He quickly turned

his body around as he said, “Sorry about that. Something happened earlier

on.”

Mi Li slowly calmed down after the initial outburst. She was still counting

on the other party to save her, so she didn’t want to turn against him yet. So,

she changed the topic and said, “What happened earlier? How did you

manage to overcome the Heaven Seal?”

She didn’t think much of the Human Seal and the Earth Seal, but she had

heard things about the Heaven Seal. Back then, Ying Zheng boasted before

her that no one would be able to breach it, saying that it had nothing to do

with one’s cultivation at all.

Zu An was stunned to hear that abrupt question. It seems like she thought

that I was referring to the Heaven Seal… I guess that’s fine too. She’s

probably going to get angry again if she knows that the man in the dragon

robe told me to kill her

So, he went along with the flow and answered her question frankly, “We

were teleported to a village in the Dong Commandery when a meteor

suddenly fell from the sky…”

After going through the details, Zu An couldn’t help but ask, “Actually,

there is something that I don’t get about the Heaven Seal. If it was

constructed by Qin Shihuang, why would he make saving Chen Sheng the

crux of overcoming the seal? Chen Sheng played a huge role in the eventual

downfall of the Qin Dynasty, so no matter how I look at it, Qin Shihuang

should have desired his death more than anything else.”

Hearing that question, Mi Li sighed deeply and said, “I finally understand

why Ying Zheng was confident that no one would be able to breach the

seal. He constructed the seal out of a snippet of history, using the fate of the

Qin Country as its lynchpin. The seal is bound to the natural laws of the

world, and it isn’t something that a human’s will can influence.

“Regarding the question you asked, it’s because it’s heaven’s will at play

here, not Ying Zheng’s. The Qin Dynasty was eventually overthrown by the

revolutionaries backing Chen Sheng. Since the Heaven Seal was

constructed with the fate of the Qin Dynasty as its lynchpin, the key to

resolving it is to guide the snippet of history toward the downfall of the Qin.

Ying Zheng probably would have never imagined that things would turn in

such a manner!

“How unexpected it is that a moment of compassion actually ended up

saving you! There’s nothing more ironic than that to a tyrant like Ying

Zheng! Hahaha!”

Hearing her frenzied laughter, Zu An asked curiously, “Do you hate him a

lot?”

“That’s not something you should concern yourself with.” Mi Li

harrumphed in response.

Zu An shrugged nonchalantly. This old hag sure has quite the temper.

“You’re indeed a person blessed with great luck. Despite your low

cultivation, you were able to venture to the depths of the underground

palace and decipher the Soul Suppression Seal. It looks like it was all the

work of fate!” remarked Mi Li deeply.

“Oh? Doesn’t that mean that our meeting is also the work of fate?” asked

Zu An with a chuckle.

“You have been making fun of me time and time again. Are you that tired

of living?” Mi Li’s expression turned cold.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +345 Rage!

Zu An thought nothing of her threat. “You can’t harm me anyway; we’ve

already signed a contract on that! Besides, what’s the big deal in me talking

a bit more casually? I reckon that you must not have too many friends back

then.”

Having hit the nail on the head, Mi Li’s face reddened. “I don’t need any

friends!”

“Humans are social creatures, so how could you possibly not need any

friends?” Zu An remarked as he made his way back to the crystal coffin.

With the Tai’e Sword, he severed the shackles binding her limbs. “Since

fate brought about our meeting, why don’t we make friends with one

another?”

The moment she was freed from her shackles, Mi Li leaped out from the

crystal coffin onto a stone sculpture by the side. She glared at him coldly

and said, “I’ll sever your tongue if you dare run your mouth once more!”

Zu An replied with a beaming smile, “I don’t believe that.”

Now that she was standing at a high point, she looked even taller and more

graceful than before, as if a beauty who had walked out of a painting. Her

presence breathed some life into this dingy underground cavern.

“Ignorant!” Mi Li’s eyebrows shot up as she slowly floated into the air. Her

robe fluttered furiously as a powerful aura burst out from her.

The powerful aura crushed on Zu An, leaving him suffocated. This force

was many times stronger than what he had felt from the Tai’e Sword earlier

on!

If not for the fact that his body had been tempered by the primordial ki

earlier on and that the Tai’e Sword was warding off half of the pressure for

him, he might have been forced into a kneeling position by now.

Even so, Zu An felt that he couldn’t hold on for too long. He wanted to say

something, but the immense pressure made it impossible for him to even

open his mouth at all.

Floating imposingly in mid-air, Mi Li swept her hands behind her back as

she gazed down on Zu An with an air of majesty. She remarked coldly,

“Someone like you wishes to befriend me?”

Zu An drove his Primordial Origin Sutra to its limit, using its prowess to

help him withstand the powerful pressure on him. He could already feel his

bones creaking under the force, on the verge of succumbing.

“Looks like you do have some guts. What a pity that you’re too weak,”

remarked Mi Li coldly. She was just about to raise the pressure a notch

further when she suddenly felt a gust of cold air battering on her body.

Perplexed, she lowered her head, only to be stunned in the next moment.

Similarly, Zu An was in the midst of fending against the pressure exerted on

him when it suddenly vanished without a trace. His pride disallowed him

from lowering his head, so he ended up seeing everything that could be

seen.

Even when he was faced with the terrifying pressure, he was still able to

stand his own against it without suffering any injuries. However, the sight

he was seeing right now left a heated sensation in his nose. He had to

quickly stifle his nose in order to prevent blood from gushing out.

It was hard to tell what really happened, but Mi Li’s clothes suddenly burst

apart without any warning. It was reduced to little fragments that scattered

swiftly with the wind, exposing her perfect figure.

Her body really showed how biased heaven could be at times, taking care of

some people far more than others. Every single line on her body seemed to

be carefully sculpted, and her skin glistened warmly like precious jade.

“Ah!” Mi Li soon snapped out of her daze, and a hint of fluster finally

cracked her lofty expression. She quickly darted behind the sculpture to

hide as she screeched, “Cover your eyes! Don’t look!”

Zu An obediently covered his eyes, just that there was a slight crack

between his fingers that allowed him to take a little peek. Watching her

hiding her body in a panic, a bizarre smile crept on his lips as he remarked,

“It really is fate at play here. Heaven must have seen how you were

bullying me, so he’s giving you a stern warning for it.”

“Shut your mouth, or else I’ll kill you!” Mi Li quickly twisted her finger to

weave her ki around her body, forming a black cloak around her. It was just

that the black cloak made out of ki didn’t feel as reassuring as real clothes.

Thinking about how her body was actually exposed to Zu An, she nearly

fainted from anger.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +999 Rage!

Zu An couldn’t help but retort, “I heard that items produced in the Qin

Dynasty, be it weapons or bricks, have to be labeled with the craftsmen’s

name. If there were any defects with an item, the craftsman would have to

take responsibility for it. Due to that, items from the Qin Dynasty are

supposed to have quality reassurance. What can I say? It seems like rumors

can’t be trusted after all.”

“Nonsense! No matter how well made my robe was, how could it possibly

last for several thousand years without degrading?!” Mi Li cursed Zu An. I

was in too much of a rush to deal with him that it actually slipped my mind!

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +813 Rage!

Zu An felt a little pained by the large amounts of Rage points popping up in

his system.

Damn it, it’s all going to waste!

He still remembered the vow he made in order to save Qiao Xueying. He

said that he would rather not draw anything good for the next three times as

long as he could obtain ‘Faith in Brother Spring’.

Of course, he had thought of a countermeasure beforehand. He thought that

as long as he drew the lottery as soon he got any Rage points for the next

three times, he would be able to nullify the consequences of the vow

without suffering too much of a loss. Due to that, he couldn’t help but feel

pained at the huge contributions Mi Li was making to his Rage points

account.

“Do you have any clothes I can change into?” asked Mi Li.

Zu An had to exert all of his self-control in order to stop himself from

bursting into laughter. “I do, but it’s my clothes. If you don’t mind…”

“Throw it over!” shouted Mi Li.

Zu An took out a fresh set of clothes from his luggage and tossed it over. He

knew that he would be in the dungeon for ten days or so, so he made sure to

bring a change of clothes too.

Now that he thought about it, he was pretty pathetic as a transmigrator. The

other transmigrators he had read of in the novels were usually equipped

with storage rings and all sorts of cool artifacts, allowing them to travel

around coolly. Yet, he had to lug around a lame bag with him everywhere

he went. It was really ruining his cool reputation here!

A snowy arm shot out from behind the sculpture to catch the clothes before

swiftly retracting behind it. “Turn around. If you dare to look in my

direction, I’ll dig out your eyes even at the risk of breaching the contract!”

“It’s not like you have anything I haven’t seen yet…” grumbled Zu An in

irritation.

“What did you say?”

Mi Li’s face was so red that it looked almost as if she was on the verge of

erupting.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +684 Rage!

“Nothing!” Sensing that the other party’s tolerance was already at its limit,

Zu An quickly turned his head around. There’s no meaning in me earning

more Rage points now anyway. It’s not worth taking the risk now.

Rustling sounds echoed behind the sculpture as Zu An made use of this

opportunity to draw the lottery. He noticed that he had accumulated a total

of 7434 Rage points in total, and he was quite impressed at how quickly he

was earning Rage points.

Wow, it hasn’t even been a long time since the last draw, but I’ve already

amassed so many Rage points. I’m almost like a Rage points harvester! I’ll

be able to draw the lottery 74 times… Surely I can’t be so unlucky as to not

draw a single item at all, right?”

Zu An nervously pressed the spacebar, only to see ‘Thanks for

participating’, ‘Thanks for participating’…

Even up to the 74th time, he actually didn’t get anything at all, not even a

single Ki Fruit!

What the hell! How in the world is my vow so effective?!

Zu An gulped down his saliva as he made up his mind to never make any

casual vows anymore. There was really something sinister about making

promises in this world.

“I’m done!”

Mi Li suddenly shouted, her voice returning back to its usual coldness. It

seemed like she had managed to recover from her earlier embarrassment.

Chapter 188: Blood Tribute

Zu An quickly turned his head over, and his eyes lit up in excitement. If Mi

Li looked graceful and seductive in her earlier court robes, her menswear

made her look valiant and imposing. She was gallant like a man, yet tender

like a woman.

“Woah, you look a bit suaver than me, though you’re still lacking in the

masculinity aspect. Overall, I’d say that you’re just a bit beneath me. At

least the girls on the streets will barely notice your presence when you’re

standing next to me,” remarked Zu An.

Mi Li was already starting to get used to his foul mouth by now. She shot

him a glare and said, “About what happened earlier on…”

Before she could finish her words, Zu An had already interrupted right in,

“Hm? Did anything happen? I didn’t see or hear anything at all.”

Mi Li’s lips crept up upon seeing how Zu An had decided to feign

ignorance. Heh, looks like he still has some tact after all. However, she soon

suppressed her smile and returned back to her usual imposing look.

“Ah right, big sis empress, you need to follow me right now to save

Chuyan! I’m afraid that they won’t be able on for too long!” exclaimed Zu

An.

“What did you call me?” Mi Li’s eyebrows shot up.

“Big sis?” asked Zu An. “I mean, you seem to be just that teeny little bit

older than me, so I can’t call you little sis… Or would you prefer me to call

you auntie or grandma?”

“Grandma…” Mi Li’s eyelids twitched as cracking sounds echoed from her

knuckles.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +256 Rage!

She took in a deep breath to calm herself down before remarking coldly,

“Let’s go and save your wife.”

Zu An immediately looked upward, only to realize that every level of the

seal was tens of meters tall, and the walls were too smooth to provide any

support. He might have managed to fall his way down here, but he had no

way of getting back up. So, he could only turn to Mi Li sheepishly and say,

“Big sis empress, help me.”

“Someone of your cultivation rank wouldn’t even be qualified to serve me

tea back then!” Mi Li harrumphed coldly. Still, she grabbed him by his

clothes and flew all the way up to the top.

Looking at how deep this cavern was, Zu An couldn’t help but wonder how

Qiao Xueying was able to get back up. However, he soon remembered

those extendable vines of hers and figured that it wouldn’t be a problem for

her at all.

For a moment here, Zu An wondered if he could feign acrophobia here as

an excuse to wrap his arms around Mi Li’s body. It was just a brief glance

earlier on, but her body was really as incredible as one could imagine.

But then, he thought about the terrifying pressure he suffered earlier and

swiftly dispelled that thought. Safety comes first!

…

After Qiao Xueying parted with Zu An, she headed all the way up to the

topmost layer, where Chu Chuyan was still bound to the altar. Upon seeing

that she was still surviving thus far, she heaved a sigh of relief.

“Snow!” Chu Chuyan noticed the commotion and turned her head over,

only to see that Qiao Xueying was all by herself. She immediately asked

hurriedly, “Where’s Ah Zu? Is it possible that he…”

Just thinking about the terrible fate that might have befallen Zu An choked

up Chu Chuyan’s voice, causing her eyes to redden.

Qiao Xueying sighed deeply. She sure is beautiful. She looks like a fairy

even when tearing up. It’s hard for me to resist her charms even though I’m

a woman too.

“Miss Chu, didn’t you abhor in the past? Why are you so concerned about

him now?” asked Qiao Xueying. As she asked those questions, she couldn’t

help but glance in the direction of the seal as she wondered how Zu An was

faring at the moment.

Chu Chuyan was a little taken aback by how differently Qiao Xueying was

addressing her, but she understood that there was no way the latter could

consider calling her ‘young miss’ since she was serving a different master.

“He has made such a huge sacrifice for me. He could have escaped safely if

he had chosen to abandon me.”

“Is that all there is to it?” asked Qiao Xueying as she sat down by the altar.

Chu Chuyan was stunned by Qiao Xueying’s question. Indeed. Is the reason

why I’m feeling so worried really because he has saved my life?

She thought about how Zu An continued to hold onto her even while

fighting with the zombie warriors, even unhesitatingly using his body to

shield her multiple times. Afterward, he even bravely challenged the danger

Soul Suppression Seal just for the sliver of hope that she could be freed

from the altar.

Most importantly of all, he was willing to even give up the Evanescent

Lotus, a crucial ingredient he needed to cure his impotency, so as to save

the dying her…

Recalling the pained look on his face afterward, a smile unknowingly crept

onto Chu Chuyan’s face. However, she soon snapped out of her thought

when she remembered that Qiao Xueying had returned without Zu An by

her side.

“Snow, where is he right now? Did something happen in the seal?” asked

Chu Chuyan anxiously.

“Don’t worry, he’s fine. We’ve managed to overcome all three of the seals

together,” replied Qiao Xueying.

“It looks like you’re quite formidable to be able to overcome those seals.

I’ve really underestimated you all this while,” remarked Chu Chuyan with a

sigh.

In her view, even though Zu An possessed all sorts of mysterious means, he

was still, after all, a third rank cultivator. She naturally believed that it was

the Qiao Xueying who had the higher cultivation rank here who contributed

more.

Qiao Xueying sighed deeply and said, “Miss Chu, it looks like you really

don’t understand him.”

Chu Chuyan blinked her eyes in confusion, not understanding the reason

behind the other party’s words. “Snow, you seem to have changed. You

used to detest Ah Zu a lot, and the two of you always argued over

everything. But now… I can’t really put it in words, but your attitude

toward him has changed greatly.”

Qiao Xueying’s heart skipped a beat. She quickly exclaimed, “You’re

thinking too much into it! That fellow is still as hateful as ever to me!”

Just thinking about how that man had angered her time and time again over

the last few days was more than enough for her to gnash her teeth in anger.

“Snow, you still haven’t told me where he is yet,” said Chu Chuyan with a

frown.

“He went to save that mysterious woman. Who knows? Maybe he’ll get

enchanted by her too.” Qiao Xueying thought about Mi Li’s voice and

guessed that the latter must be quite a beautiful woman.

“This powerful seal was used to seal that woman, which means that she

must be an incredibly dangerous individual. I really don’t know whether

saving her is the right thing or not,” said Chu Chuyan out of worry.

Qiao Xueying was a little displeased by Chu Chuyan’s response. “Miss

Chu, instead of worrying about the peace and prosperity of the whole of

humankind, why don’t you worry a little more about that fellow first? It’s

already approaching the time the both of us agreed on, but he still isn’t out

yet. I really don’t know whether he has met with danger or not.”

Chu Chuyan was a little stunned to hear those words. A contemplative look

appeared on her face.

“What are the two of you talking about?”

A sinister air suddenly gushed in their direction, causing the two women to

turn their heads over. The black-armored general, at some point in time, had

returned back to the altar.

They quickly glanced at the lake, only to see that it had already calmed

down. All of the evil spirits who had escaped earlier were either destroyed

or resealed.

Qiao Xueying immediately leaped to her feet and stood in front of Chu

Chuyan, protecting her. Her heart was pounding in unease as she was aware

that she couldn’t stop the black-armored general due to the vast difference

in their cultivation.

“Snow, hurry up and leave. You aren’t a match for him!” exclaimed Chu

Chuyan.

“That won’t do! We went through so much in order to save you, so how can

we give up right now? Besides, I’ve already promised that fellow to protect

you!” Qiao Xueying pursed her lips tightly together.

“Hm? Where’s the other man?” The black-armored general took a look

around, but Zu An was nowhere to be seen.

Qiao Xueying was worried that Zu An hadn’t saved that mysterious woman

yet—if so, luring the black-armored general would undo their efforts—so

she replied, “He has already left.”

“Left?” The black-armored general was stunned. “He thinks that he can

escape from my grasp after daring to impersonate the Founding Sovereign

Emperor in my presence?”

Qiao Xueying and Chu Chuyan’s face paled. The mysterious woman was

right; Zhang Han had really seen through Zu An’s lies.

“Forget it. I’ll settle the score with him after I mend the seal.” The black-

armored general looked at Qiao Xueying as he asked, “Are you intending to

stop me?”

Without bothering to respond to that question, Qiao Xueying raised her

hand and summoned innumerable green leaves around her before tossing

them over to the black-armored general like razor blades. After consuming

Zu An’s ‘Faith in Brother Spring’, she had regained at least half of her

strength by now.

However, in the face of her attacks, the black-armored general didn’t even

bother to dodge at all. Those green leaves simply withered in the face of the

black fog shrouding him.

Qiao Xueying clenched her fists tightly as she began spurring the growth of

her hair. This time around, however, she didn’t launch an attack. Instead,

she created a bush of thorns around the altar, hoping to stall the black-

armored general as long as possible.

“Scram!” Zhang Han manifested a spear in his hand and swept it

horizontally, splitting the bush of thorns into half right away.

Qiao Xueying had already mentally prepped herself for the worst, but even

so, she didn’t think that her strongest defensive skill wouldn’t even be able

to last a second before the enemy.

She tried to dodge the attack, but she was still a split second too late. She,

too, was struck squarely by the impact of the spear, causing her body to fly

across the air like a sandbag before crashing heavily by the side of the

cavern.

Zhang Han had no intention of letting Qiao Xueying off just like that. He

flitted over to the place where Qiao Xueying was going to land at in

advance and held his spear up high in position. With a cold sneer, he said,

“Since you’re the companion of that wretched fool who dared to

impersonate His Majesty, I’ll send you on your way as well!”

Qiao Xueying knew that there was no way for her to escape anymore. Left

with no choice, she prepared herself to activate Moon’s Reflection in order

to block this fatal attack, but a voice suddenly sounded in the room.

“Stop it right there, or else I’ll bite my tongue and end my life right now!”

It was from Chu Chuyan. She knew that the value of the tribute would be

greatly reduced once dead, allowing her to use this against Zhang Han.

Her efforts worked out. Zhang Han paused for a moment before

instantaneously returning back to the altar. “It’s good that you reminded me.

I might have bound your limbs, but you’re still able to move your tongue.”

After saying those words, he tapped his finger on her chin and sealed off all

of her movements.

“Forget it, there could be complications if I drag it out. I shall handle the

tribute first.”

Zhang Han began to chant in some sort of obscure language. Black fog

gathered from the surroundings to converge around the altar, causing the air

to become as viscous as ink. Demons of all shapes of sizes seemed to be

hidden within the black fog, slowly clawing their way toward Chu Chuyan.

No matter how mentally resilient Chu Chuyan was, she couldn’t help but

feel creeped out by those monsters. She wanted to run, but the shackles on

her arms disallowed her from moving at all.

Qiao Xueying bit her lips as she charged forward once more in an attempt

to save Chu Chuyan.

“Since you’re courting for death, I’ll allow you to die with her!” sneered

Zhang Han.

A hand manifested from the black fog rushed forth and clasped tightly

down on Qiao Xueying, trapping her in place. Her strength seemed to fade

in the presence of the black fog, rendering her helpless.

The hand lifted her up in an attempt to toss her into the black fog, only for a

severe voice to suddenly echo across the hall. “Audacious! How dare you

hurt this Sovereign Emperor’s woman?”

Chapter 189: Trump Card

Zhang Han’s hand quivered from the abrupt booming voice, and his airs

seemed to deflate a little. He quickly turned his gaze toward the direction

where the voice had come from, only to see two suave boys walking in his

direction.

Zu An and Mi Li.

Mi Li shot a surprised glance at Zu An. The latter’s shout actually caused

her heart to tremble. For a moment there, the imposing air he emanated that

very instant actually carried some of Ying Zheng’s flair. However, recalling

that it was Zu An they were talking about here, she quickly evicted that

thought from her mind.

Similarly, Zhang Han was stunned for an instant too, but he quickly

snapped out of it and sneered coldly, “I thought that you’ve escaped, but

who could have thought that you would be so foolish to return. I still

haven’t settled the score with you for impersonating His Majesty!”

However, Zu An harrumphed coldly and said, “Insolence! How dare you

speak so arrogantly to me? Do you want your nine families to be

exterminated?”

Qiao Xueying and Chu Chuyan were shocked by those words. They knew

Zu An’s background well enough to know that it was an empty scare, but

his disguise had already been seen through!

Putting them aside, even Mi Li couldn’t help but direct a glance at him.

This fellow’s skin is really thicker than the city walls!

“Just how long more do you intend to impersonate His Majesty? I didn’t

have the time to pursue the matter earlier, but you really are trying to climb

over my head, aren’t you?” A powerful pressure burst forth from Zhang

Han, crushing down on everyone including Qiao Xueying and Chu Chuyan.

Zu An also felt his breathing suddenly becoming laborious under the

pressure, but fortunately, he had already thought of a countermeasure

beforehand. He quickly hid behind Mi Li’s body, and just as he had

expected, the pressure immediately alleviated significantly. So, he gleefully

continued his mockery, “Audacious! Even if you don’t recognize me,

shouldn’t you at least recognize her?”

“Who’s that?” Zhang Han took a look at Mi Li, but he was unable to

recognize her due to her menswear. “You won’t be able to escape death no

matter whom you bring out here!”

“Zhang Han, I never thought that you would have already forgotten about

me!” sneered Mi Li.

Zhang Han was stunned. He might not be able to recognize Mi Li’s

appearance, but the voice sounded extremely familiar to him. He began

assessing her intently before exclaiming in horror, “Mi Li!”

Mi Li stepped forward and scoffed, “Looks like you still do remember me.”

Qiao Xueying and Chu Chuyan began assessing Mi Li curiously. From her

voice, they could tell that she was the woman sealed down there, but they

didn’t expect her to be so gorgeous.

However, what caught Chu Chuyan’s attention more was the fact that she

was wearing menswear, presumably Zu An’s clothes. Was she naked when

Zu An saved her from the seal?

While all sorts of thoughts filled up the two women’s minds, Zhang Han’s

complexion turned a little awful, and even his voice began quivering in fear.

“H-how did you get out?”

“In the first place, it was only a matter of time before I managed to break

the seal. What makes you think that I won’t be able to escape?” asked Mi Li

coldly.

Zhang Han turned to Zu An furiously and shouted, “You were the one who

set her free!”

You have successfully trolled Zhang Han for +999 Rage!

Zu An shrugged casually, saying, “Do I need your permission to save my

own woman?”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

“…” Chu Chuyan.

“…” Mi Li.

Does this fellow really think of himself as Ying Zheng? Who do you think

you’re saying is your woman?

“Do you know what a grievous mistake you have made by setting her

free?!” roared Zhang Han in agitation.

Before Zu An could ask about it, Mi Li had already interjected with a

harrumph, “Zhang Han, you have served as Ying Zheng’s guard dog for so

many years. It’s about time for me to settle the scores with you.”

Zhang Han swung his spear sideward and sneered coldly, “I was assigned to

look after this place and keep you sealed under His Majesty’s orders. Since

you managed to escape, I’ll just have to imprison you back into your seal!”

“You want to seal me back?” Mi Li burst into laughter. “You?”

Instead of responding to Mi Li’s taunt, Zhang Han thrust his spear forth like

a formidable dragon toward Mi Li, generating formidable momentum that

horrified Zu An and the others. They knew that they would surely be torn

apart if that attack had been directed toward them.

However, with a cold harrumph, Mi Li rushed forward to confront him, and

it didn’t take long for her to unravel his offense.

With no one maintaining the altar anymore, the black fog filled with vile

demons slowly began to dissipate. Zu An made use of this opportunity to

sneak over to the altar and help Qiao Xueying up. Looking at the two

women, he asked worriedly, “Are the two of you fine?”

“I’m fine,” the two women replied in unexpected unison, which shocked the

two of them.

Zu An was surprised by it as well. All of a sudden, he had an inexplicable

feeling that he was caught cheating by his wife.

In the end, it was Chu Chuyan who snapped out of it first and said, “You

should take a look at Snow. Her injuries are far more severe than mine.”

As a seal had been placed on her mouth, her words were a bit muffled.

Zu An turned to Qiao Xueying and asked, “How are you feeling?”

Qiao Xueying pushed him off and said, “I won’t die.”

Noticing the trail of blood trickling down the corner of her lips, Zu An

quickly pressed her down and said, “Don’t move, you’ve sustained

significant injuries. You should quickly channel your ki to alleviate your

condition.”

Qiao Xueying instinctively wanted to refute him, but sensing the concern in

his voice, she eventually decided to hold her tongue.

Meanwhile, Chu Chuyan was a little perplexed by their unnatural

interaction. The two of them usually devolved into heated arguments as

soon as they encountered one another, but the atmosphere between them felt

a little different at this very instant, almost tender even.

Bam!

A dull thud suddenly sounded. The three of them immediately turned their

heads over, only to see Zhang Han collapsing heavily on the ground.

Mi Li slowly made her way toward Zhang Han and said, “In the years I’ve

been sealed, I swore that the first thing I would do when I’m free is to make

you suffer a fate worse than death!”

Zhang Han climbed up from the ground as he raised his hand, beckoning to

the terracotta soldiers behind him. They immediately drew their weapons

and aimed it at Mi Li.

Mi Li glared at them fiercely and roared, “I am the empress of the Great

Qin Dynasty! Who dares to disrespect me?”

The terracotta soldiers immediately put down their weapons and turned

around as if nothing had happened at all.

I swear in my goddamned life I’ve never seen more spineless soldiers than

that!, retorted Zu An in his head.

Zhang Han also didn’t expect to encounter such a situation either. He roared

at the terracotta soldiers furiously, “She has been stripped of her position by

His Majesty! What are you afraid of her for?!”

Despite his infuriated howls, the terracotta soldiers didn’t respond at all,

playing dead.

Mi Li stopped her footsteps and waved her sleeve in front of her. A streak

of red light flashed across the air, and the hands which Zhang Han had been

holding his spear with suddenly plopped to the ground.

Zu An and the two women beside him nearly popped their eyes out. Zhang

Han was an opponent they were completely helpless before, even when he

was taking them lightly. Yet, Mi Li was actually able to sever his hands

with just a wave of her sleeves?

The disparity in prowess was so great that the three of them were struggling

to come to terms with it!

Mi Li flung her sleeves outward, disgusted as if she had gotten something

unclean on her hands. She gazed at Zhang Han coldly as she uttered

impassively, “Now, what else should I sever?”

Zhang Han quickly retreated a few steps back, but unexpectedly, he wasn’t

as frightened as Mi Li thought he would be. “I admit that I’m indeed not an

opponent for you, but did you think that His Majesty wouldn’t have

prepared anything to deal with you in case the seal got broken?”

Chapter 190: Recovery

Mi Li’s eyes turned steely. “He prepared a hand?”

“It was out of reminiscence of his ties with you that he chose to seal you

instead of killing you…” said Zhang Han.

Before he could finish his words, Mi Li had already interjected with a sneer,

“As if he could have really killed me!”

“Indeed, His Majesty was unable to kill you at the start. However, he soon

found something that could do it. However, in view that you’re already

sealed, he entrusted the item to me in case a mishap occurred. I never

thought that a day would come where I would really have to use it!” replied

Zhang Han.

“I’d love to see what you have that could kill me!” sneered Mi Li, thinking

nothing of his threats at all.

“Have you ever heard of ‘Red Tears of Lady Xiang’?”

“Red Tears of Lady Xiang?” Mi Li frowned. She had no impression of this

at all.

“It’s only natural that you don’t, for this is something that happened after

you were sealed.” Zhang Han began reminiscing about the past. “There was

once when His Majesty was traveling around when he encountered a gale at

the Mountain Xiang Shrine and was unable to cross the river. So, His

Majesty asked the high priest what kind of god ‘Lord Xiang’ was, to which,

the high priest replied that she was ‘Yao’s daughter’ and ‘Shun’s wife’[1],

and she was buried here.

“His Majesty was extremely angry at ‘Lord Xiang’, believing that she was

intentionally acting against him. So, he ordered his men to chop down all of

the trees of Mountain Xiang.

“But all of a sudden, a red droplet suddenly fell from the sky and swiftly

dyed the ground around Mountain Xiang red. All of the soldiers who came

into contact with the red ground would dissipate into dust. That single

encounter killed over half of His Majesty’s imperial guards, and even His

Majesty himself almost got done in as well. Speculations later arose that the

red droplet was a symbol of Lord Xiang’s rage, a divine retribution toward

those who had disrespected her.

“His Majesty ordered the high priest to lead a group of cultivators into

Mountain Xiang and extract three droplets of the lethal poison from it. The

poison became known as ‘Red Tears of Lady Xiang’. His Majesty has used

one himself, and he entrusted the other two to me in case you ever broke

out of your seal.”

Mi Li sneered in response, “You make it sound amazing, but I don’t believe

that any poison in the world would be that amazing.”

Zhang Han sighed deeply before glancing in the direction of the lake,

saying, “The defeat in the battle of Zhangwu resulted in the death of

200,000 Qin soldiers, but you should also know that those soldiers were the

elites of our Qin Dynasty. There were many experts amongst them; they

couldn’t possibly have been defeated so easily even if they had laid down

their arms.”

Mi Li’s heart jolted in astonishment, and she blurted out in astonishment,

“You used that poison against them?”

“Indeed,” replied Zhang Han with a nod. His voice was quivering out of

fear. “It was just a droplet. A single droplet, and 200,000 elite soldiers of

the Qin Dynasty were reduced to dust.”

Mi Li’s face darkened. She raised her right hand, only to suddenly notice

the presence of a red droplet on her palm. There was a red thread

connecting from the bottom of the red droplet all the way to her elbow, and

it was still streaming upward.

“Scram!” bellowed Mi Li coldly.

A powerful aura gushed outward as she channeled her ki toward that red

thread, hoping to force it out of her body. At her cultivation rank, most

poisons could no longer hope to threaten her any more.

However, a deep frown soon formed on her forehead. The red thread might

be thin, but it was unstoppable. Her ki swiftly dissipated in the face of the

poison, such that the most she could do was just to barely slow the spread

of the poison by a little.

“It’s no use. ‘Red Tears of Lady Xiang’ is a poison which could even kill

Earth Immortals, so how could you possibly be able to withstand it?”

Zhang Han’s voice carried no joy, just fear and wistfulness. Clearly, the

poison had reminded him of the past, causing guilt and all kinds of

emotions to swiftly rush up his mind.

Meanwhile, the other three watching the commotion were stunned. It was

just a moment ago that Mi Li made an awe-inspiring entrance and subdued

Zhang Han with ease… but who could have thought that there would

suddenly be such a huge turnaround?

Zu An knew that they would become Zhang Han’s prey if Mi Li were to be

done in. There was no way he could accept this outcome after everything he

had done to free Mi Li. He immediately shouted, “Sever your hand and stop

the spread of the poison!”

“The ‘Red Tears of Lady Xiang’ wouldn’t have been able to kill an Earth

Immortal if it could be dealt with that easily. From the moment she was

afflicted with the poison, it had already spread throughout her entire body. It

wouldn’t do a thing even if she severs her hand now.”

Mi Li turned her head over and looked at Zu An in surprise. “You don’t

wish for my death?”

“How could I possibly wish for big sis empress’ death? Even if we were to

just look at this from an aesthetic point of view, you look far more pleasing

than that Zhang Han.”

Chu Chuyan and Qiao Xueying glanced at one another. That fellow sure is

brazen. How in the world does he find the courage to tease that powerful

female zombie?

In her view, a normal human couldn’t possibly live for that long, so they

assumed that Mi Li was a zombie like Zhang Han and the others, albeit a

beautiful one.

Zhang Han was also rendered speechless. Wait a moment, did he just

indirectly say that I’m ugly?!

You have successfully trolled Zhang Han for +444 Rage!

“You’re asking for it!”

Zhang Han morphed into a bundle of black aura and charged toward Zu An.

He might have lost his hands, but the difference in their cultivation ranks

was absolute. Even if he had lost his legs on top of htat, he would still have

been able to kill Zu An easily.

Zu An could have possibly dodged the attack with his movement skill, but

what would happen to Qiao Xueying and Chu Chuyan behind him if he

were to do that? So, he chose to grit his teeth and attempt to fend off the

attack with the Tai’e Sword.

On the other hand, Mi Li waved her sleeves, and the Tai’e Sword suddenly

flew out of Zu An’s hands and pierced right into Zhang Han’s chest as

swiftly as a bolt of lightning. The impact pushed Zhang Han back all the

way to the opposite end of the underground hall and pinned him right onto

the wall.

Zhang Han lowered his head to look at the Tai’e Sword. Disbelief filled his

face first before swiftly being replaced with resignation. He murmured

feebly, “This is fine too. It’s good that it’s all over. I’ve already been

tortured for several thousand years now, and it’s about time for me to return

to the earth…”

His voice gradually grew softer and softer before his head finally hung

limply off his neck. He had breathed his last.

Zu An shot a thumbs up at Mi Li and said, “Woah, you were actually able to

kill that powerful Zhang Han in a single blow! My respect for big sis

empress gushes forth like the relentless tides of the river…”

“Gush your head!” Mi Li interjected even before he could finish his

bootlicking. “How could it be that easily to kill him? He has simply given

up on himself.”

Those words made Zu An direct his gaze toward Zhang Han, and all of a

sudden, he felt some sympathy for the latter.

He was the general who had stood forward in the Qin Dynasty’s times of

crisis and turned the tables on the rebels. Many thought that he would be the

savior who would breathe life back into the dying Qin Dynasty, but he

ended up surrendering to the enemy after a huge defeat. As if that wasn’t

enough, he even plotted the deaths of their final 200,000 elite soldiers.

He had fallen from a hero into a criminal in an instant. The sheer guilt must

have been gnawing away at his heart over the years.

His desire to live pushed him to continue existing in such a wretched state

to this day. Most likely, Zu An’s impersonation of Ying Zheng, the return of

Mi Li, and the vengeance of the 200,000 evil spirits had dredged up his

memories of the past, something which he had been trying to ignore to this

day, and it finally crushed his heart and compelled him to choose death.

Perhaps it was because his feelings had been heard, Zhang Han’s body

suddenly began disintegrating along with the wind.

Along with his death, the black ropes binding Chu Chuyan finally

disappeared as well. Zu An quickly pulled her down from the altar and

exclaimed, “Honey, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Chu Chuyan was still unable to move properly due to her

devastated ki meridians, so she could only collapse feebly in his embrace. A

trace of redness surfaced on her cheeks.

Noticing how limp her body was, Zu An quickly moved her over to Qiao

Xueying’s side before rushing over to Mi Li. “Big sis empress, are you

fine?”

“You just want to ask me how your little wife can be saved, no?” Mi Li saw

through his thoughts right away and harrumphed coldly.

Zu An smiled sheepishly and said, “I’m also concerned about you too. Is

there anything I can do to help you?”

He leaned in closer, intending to see how the situation with her arm was.

However, Mi Li waved her hand and pushed him off, blocking off his gaze.

She uttered coldly, “How could such mere poison hope to faze me?”

“That’s good, that’s good.” Zu An heaved a sigh of relief. “Big sis empress,

can you fulfill your promise and tell me how to heal my wife?”

Mi Li alternated her gaze between Zu An and Chu Chuyan for a moment as

her expression flickered a little. She seemed to be making an extremely

difficult decision.

“What’s wrong? Is there a problem?” Zu An’s heart skipped a beat.

However, Mi Li simply shook her head as she looked at him with a bizarre

gaze.

Chu Chuyan spoke up feebly, “The collapse of my ki meridian is not

something that can be solved easily; you shouldn’t make things difficult for

her. Don’t worry, I promise you that I won’t try to end my life in the

future.”

After how Zu An and Qiao Xueying had done everything they could to save

her, even if she found her life meaningless, she wouldn’t undermine the

sacrifices they had made for her by ending her own life.

Mi Li harrumphed coldly. “There’s no need to use such tricks on me.

Saving you is no big deal for me. I’m just contemplating on something

else.”

Zu An was overjoyed to hear that. “Big sis empress, please enlighten us!”

A glimmer of hope surfaced in Chu Chuyan’s eyes too. Despite her

nonchalant words, she had been known as a prodigy even from a young age.

There was no way she would be content with living as a cripple for the rest

of her life.

Meanwhile, Qiao Xueying was intrigued by Mi Li’s words. Based on her

knowledge, there was nothing in the world that could recover destroyed ki

meridians. She couldn’t help but wonder what kind of method Mi Li was

intending to use here.

“Didn’t you learn the Primordial Origin Sutra? Primordial ki is the purest ki

in the world, born at the inception of the world. Aside from tempering your

own body, you can also use it to heal the injuries of others,” said Mi Li.

Zu An’s heart skipped a beat. “Wait a moment… how did you know that

I’ve learned the Primordial Origin Sutra?”

“Do you think that I wouldn’t know that Ying Zheng sealed off the

Primordial Origin Sutra in the Tai’e Sword? Hmph! Even if I didn’t know

that, I could also tell as much from the moment I saw you. A body that has

been tempered by primordial ki is greatly different from that of an ordinary

human.”

“I see!” Overjoyed, Zu An quickly made his way over to Chu Chuyan,

hoping to infuse his primordial ki into her body to heal her.

However, Mi Li soon interjected, “Infusing the primordial ki into another

person’s body won’t work as well as it did with yours. It’ll only allow her to

barely regain her mobility and become self-sufficient, but she won’t regain

her ability to cultivate.”

Zu An’s face paled. “That’s different from what you said!”

“What are you panicking for?” Mi Li glared at him before continuing on,

“Not too long ago, I learned another thing that should make it easy for her

to fully recover.”

1. Both Yao and Shun are mythological rulers of ancient China, one of the

Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.

Chapter 191: Choice

“How do I do it? Can’t you just finish your words at once?” Zu An was

frustrated at how Mi Li seemed to reveal bits and pieces of information, as

if trying to reel him in.

Chu Chuyan also looked at Mi Li in anticipation. Needless to say, she

would rather recover her full cultivation than to just recover her mobility.

With a gleam in her eyes, Mi Li asked, “Have you heard of ‘transcendent

aptitude’ before?”

“Transcendent aptitude?” Chu Chuyan and Qiao Xueying traded gazes, but

they could see the doubt in each other’s eyes.

Qiao Xueying pondered for a moment before speaking up, “Based on what I

know, transcendent aptitude is just a legend. In fact, many doubt the

veracity of its existence as even the most talented cultivators in the world

are only at Upper Jia (A+), and there are less than ten of them around.

Given so, how could transcendent aptitude really exist?”

Both Chu Chuyan and Qiao Xueying were already extremely talented

individuals, but they were only at Lower Jia. Every step above signified a

huge difference, such that even cultivators of Upper Jia aptitude were far

beyond their reach, let alone transcendent aptitude.

“You need not doubt the validity of its existence,” said Mi Li. She pointed

to Zu An and continued, “That’s because he’s one.”

“???” Chu Chuyan.

“???” Qiao Xueying.

The two of them turned to look at Zu An in unison.

He possesses the legendary transcendent aptitude? How is that possible?!

The two women were extremely familiar with him, so they knew how much

of a renowned wastrel he was in Brightmoon City. Back then, before taking

Zu An in as her husband, Chu Chuyan even secretly had his aptitude

checked, and he should have been at Lower Ding (D-).

Even if he had been hiding his true skills and cultivation all this while,

surely he couldn’t conceal his aptitude too?

“He’s a transcendent aptitude cultivator? Elder, could you be mistaken?”

asked Chu Chuyan.

It was true that Zu An had impressed her with his skills this time around,

but she was still unable to even fathom him being of the legendary

transcendent aptitude. Even her Lower Jia (A-) aptitude was already enough

for her to reach the sixth rank, so how could he possibly still only be at the

third rank at the moment?

“I’m also perplexed by how weak he is, but there’s no way I would be

mistaken about this. I came into contact with his blood earlier, and he

definitely possesses transcendent aptitude,” replied Mi Li.

Feeling the gazes of the three women being centered on him, Zu An

scratched his head in embarrassment and said, “I was intending to conceal

my aptitude and blend into the midst of normal folks like you, but it looks

like I’ve been found out. Yes, I’m indeed someone who possesses the

legendary aptitude. I hope that you won’t treat me any differently because

of that in the future.”

“…” Chu Chuyan.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

The two of them were utterly bewildered by his admittance. What’s wrong

with the world? A fellow like him actually possesses transcendent aptitude?

Even with both Mi Li and Zu An confirming the matter, his lackadaisical air

around him still made them think that he was just joking with them.

“It’s common knowledge that transcendent aptitude cultivators grow

swiftly, but that in itself is not enough to be considered transcendent. The

key reason why they are considered transcendent is because their blood

essence is top-notch nourishment to all cultivators. Those who consume the

blood essence of a transcendent aptitude cultivator can greatly increase the

speed of their cultivation and heal all of their injuries. In fact, there are even

rumors that if one were to assimilate all of the blood essence a transcendent

aptitude cultivator possesses, one can achieve true longevity,” said Mi Li.

“Big sis empress, can you stop licking your lips? You’re making me a bit

afraid.” Zu An gulped fearfully as he finally understood why Jiang Luofu

had directed a weird look toward him upon realizing that he was a

transcendent aptitude cultivator.

Aiyo, you should have just said it earlier. If gorgeous principal needs my

‘essence’, I’d be more than willing to give it to you… Ah, wait a moment,

it’s not the same essence.

“Longevity?!” Chu Chuyan and Qiao Xueying exclaimed in astonishment.

There were many cultivators in this world who lived a far longer lifespan

than ordinary humans, but thus far, none of them had been able to truly

escape death. Even for Mi Li, they thought that she had only been able to

live so long because she had been converted into an undead even if there

were some anomalies here.

Undead creatures trade their bodies and physical functions in order to attain

a greater lifespan, so it was unheard of for any undead to be able to retain

their beauty like Mi Li.

“The part regarding longevity should be false,” said Mi Li with a shake of

her head. “In the history of humankind, I’ve never heard of any

transcendent aptitude cultivator achieving true longevity before. Ying

Zheng has also tried pursuing longevity back then, resorting to all sorts of

means including capturing and assimilating a transcendent aptitude

cultivator, but he wasn’t able to achieve his goal in the end.”

Chu Chuyan and Qiao Xueying looked confused. They clearly had never

heard of Ying Zheng before.

Zu An, on the other hand, was appalled. As expected of Qin Shihuang! He

actually has the ability to find a transcendent aptitude cultivator and

assimilate him.

On one hand, he felt sympathetic to his ‘fellow comrade who possessed

transcendent aptitude’, but at the same time, he found himself wondering

what kind of state Mi Li was in at the moment. If even Qin Shihuang was

unable to achieve longevity, it was hard for him to imagine how Mi Li was

able to survive through so many years, albeit in a sealed state.

“Elder, you still haven’t told me what I have to do in order to restore Miss

Chu’s ki meridians.” Qiao Xueying had always been short-tempered, and

she noticed how Mi Li still hadn’t gotten to the crux of the matter despite

blabbering on for so long.

“Haven’t I made it plenty obvious by now?” Mi Li harrumphed. “He just

has to infuse his blood essence and channel the Primordial Origin Sutra

along with his primordial ki into her body, and that would be sufficient to

restore her ki meridians.”

“Blood essence?” Chu Chuyan was confused. “Do I have to drink his

blood?”

Mi Li frowned. “Aren’t the two of you a couple? Why don’t you get

anything at all?”

All of a sudden, Chu Chuyan suddenly realized something, and the same

thought surfaced in Qiao Xueying’s mind as well. The two of them quickly

whispered to one another as their faces reddened in embarrassment[1].

“B-but… How can that be drunk…” Chu Chuyan had never felt so

embarrassed before. She had to squeeze out the very last bit of courage she

had in her body in order to utter those words.

“Drunk?” Mi Li was stunned for a moment before realizing what Chu

Chuyan was thinking of. A bizarre smile crept on her lips as she said, “It’s

not wrong to put it that way, but you’re ‘drinking’ it not through that

mouth.”

“…” Zu An.

Big sis empress, you would surely have been a meme master had you lived

in the modern era.

Qiao Xueying and Chu Chuyan were maidens, but they weren’t so ignorant

as to be unable to comprehend what Mi Li was talking about, especially

since the latter had made it rather explicit. Their faces turned so red that

they looked almost like ripe apples ready to be bitten into.

Mi Li also didn’t bother beating around the bush. “The bloodline of a

transcendent aptitude cultivator possesses great life force and mystical

energy whereas the primordial ki is the purest substance in the whole world.

You’d need the two of them in order to restore your ki meridians I’ll impart

to you a formula in order to draw in the ‘essence’ he’s pumping into you

during the amalgamation of yin and yang later on, lest you end up wasting

such precious energy and fail to make a full recovery.”

“H-how can I do that?!” Chu Chuyan’s face was completely flushed, and

she was so nervous that she could hear her own heart beating in a fluster.

She had never thought that the cure would be something like this.

While she was a couple with Zu An, that had only been in name. It was just

to silence the mouths of the other powers.

She was touched that Zu An had put his life on the line to save her, and

there was no doubt that she carried great goodwill for him at the moment.

But still, this was her first time encountering such a situation, so it was

inevitable that she would feel intimidated and frightened.

Meanwhile, Qiao Xueying pressed her lips together with a brooding look in

her eyes. She had never expected things to turn out like that, and it left her

feeling a little dazed.

“What’s wrong with this?” asked Mi Li in bewilderment. “The two of you

are a couple… Hm? You’re still a maiden?”

She finally understood what the crux of the problem was. She turned to Zu

An and exclaimed, “You’re unable to do it?”

How could a man be told to his face that he was ‘unable to do it’? Zu An

immediately roared back, “Who says that!”

His voice was a little shaky though since he was indeed impotent till a

while ago…

Nevertheless, his words reminded Mi Li of that tent in his pants she saw in

the crystal coffin a moment ago, and it brought a hint of awkwardness to

her face. I guess I had misunderstood him. “Since you’re able to do it, why

in the world are you leaving your beautiful wife to wilt on her own?”

“…” Zu An.

Sis, trust me. I want to do it too! I just… can’t!

“Forget it, you don’t have to say anything. I reckon that it’s some sort of

ridiculous melodrama at play here.” Mi Li suddenly sounded a little

irritated. She turned to Chu Chuyan and said, “Based on what I’ve seen thus

far, the two of you carry mutual feelings for one another. I don’t understand

what your reason for rejecting is, but are you certain that you would rather

remain an ordinary human who can’t even raise your hands above your

shoulders for the rest of your life?”

Qiao Xueying hesitated for a moment before advising her too, “Miss Chu,

you should know of the terrible plight the Chu clan is in at the moment. You

won’t be able to protect the Chu clan anymore if you were to become a

cripple. Zu An has nearly lost his life multiple times in order to save your

life. Are you going to let his sacrifice and hard work go to vain?

“I know that someone of your caliber is bound to have high expectations for

your future partner, but what’s done is done. Zu An is your husband after

all, and a day like this is bound to come. Do you detest him so much as to

reject him even when your future is at stake here?”

“No, that’s not it… It’s just that…” Chu Chuyan’s eyelids fluttered as an

internal conflict broke out in her heart.

Mi Li shot a glance at Zu An and urged him with her voice transmission.

“Are you a man or not? What are you standing there in a daze for?! Are you

still expecting her to make the first move?”

Zu An finally snapped out of her daze. He gathered his determination

before walking over to Chu Chuyan’s side and carried her soft body up

before whispering tenderly in her ears, “Am I not alright?”

Chu Chuyan was taken aback by the sudden snow of tenderness, and it left

her even more flustered. “N-no, that’s not it. It’s just that…”

“Just listen to me this once. For both of our sakes…” said Zu An while

gazing deep into her eyes.

Chu Chuyan had never seen such an earnest look on Zu An’s face before,

and it made her face turn red. She hesitated for a long moment before

finally nodding inconspicuously.

Qiao Xueying sighed deeply before walking out.

Mi Li quickly imparted a formula to Chu Chuyan before remarking, “You

should have the formula remembered by now. Make sure to use it later on.”

Before taking her leave, she noticed that quite a few terracotta soldiers were

still sneaking peeks over, so she sneered and said, “The lot of you want to

watch the show?”

The terracotta soldiers immediately turned their heads away and stood still,

as if having turned back into statues.

Mi Li harrumphed before. She flung her sleeves and formed a veil of ki

around the altar.

Inside the veil, Zu An placed Chu Chuyan on top of the stone tablet as he

gently undid her belt, revealing her fair skin.

The chilling sensation tingled Chu Chuyan’s skin. She couldn’t help but

hesitate here. “W-wait a moment, Zu An! I… I don’t know…”

Zu An sighed softly and said, “Do you hate me?”

“N-no, that’s not it…” Chu Chuyan couldn’t even meet Zu An’s gaze. She

turned her head sideward as a tinge of red consumed her body. “It’s just

that… just that…”

Chu Chuyan was so flustered that she couldn’t say anything meaningful in a

long while.

Zu An leaned in closer and gently sealed off her cherry lips, causing Chu

Chuyan’s eyes to widen largely. In that instant, her mind turned blank.

1. Blood essence is also a traditional Chinese medicine term referring to a

combination of ‘blood’ and ‘essence (sperm)’.

Chapter 192: We'll Meet Once

Again Soon

Chu Chuyan whimpered a little upon the abrupt kiss. She instinctively

raised her hands to push Zu An off, but she eventually held her hands back

after a moment of hesitation. Seeing that she wasn’t resisting him, Zu An

moved on to undo her clothes, causing them to flow down her body and

onto the floor. This made her heart thump even faster.

Am I really going to lose my body to him?

She had always been the pride of the Chu clan from a young age. Her

beautiful appearance and top-notch cultivation talent made her the center of

attention no matter where she went to. Many men viewed her as their dream

lovers, but they dared not to approach her, thinking that they were unworthy

of her. So, they buried their desires in the depths of her heart.

Of course, there was also no lack of outstanding men expressing their

affection for her, just that none of them was able to move her.

The man of her dreams was a true hero, someone who could inspire

admiration from her but at the same time dote and love her…

However, she was simply too outstanding that few could match her, even

for those from a generation older. So, she thought that the man of her

dreams didn’t exist in real life, so she relied on novels in order to fulfill her

imagination.

But the more outstanding the protagonists of those novels were, the more

closed her heart became in real life, She became more and more

disillusioned with the men she met.

That was also why she had no qualms about looking for a renowned wastrel

in Brightmoon City as her husband. All men were the same in her eyes

anyway.

While she viewed Zu An as a shield necessary for the Chu clan’s

extenuating circumstances, she was willing to accept him as kin or a friend,

considering that they were going to live decades together. However, she

never thought that a day would come where she could see Zu An as a man,

let alone as a romantic interest.

Far too many things had happened in this trip. It was still fresh in her head

how Zu An insisted on staying with her despite their dangerous plight,

holding onto her tighter than ever while fending off the enemies…

While she was still deep in thought, she was unaware of just how fatal the

charm of her bare skin was toward the man standing right before her. When

she finally became cognizant of the heavy presence of a man in front of her,

her heart suddenly began beating quickly.

And when Zu An finally overcame her final hurdle, she felt something that

had been encasing her heart all this while shattering.

She stared at the man in front of her as two streams of tears flowed down

the corner of her eyes. She had no idea why she was tearing up, but her

body seemed to have completely gone out of her control.

…

Meanwhile, Qiao Xueying was sitting right outside the barrier Mi Li had

constructed with a blank look on her face.

There was a fact that she had hidden from Zu An. Half Life’s Fate was a

secret art that only a few of her race were able to use, and most of them

wouldn’t use it in their entire lifetime. If they ever used it, they would only

use it on their other partner. Such had been the way since ancient times.

“I really made a huge loss!” Qiao Xueying bit on her lips as she kicked on a

little rock grumpily. She never thought that she would end up using this

skill on another woman’s husband, and that made her incredibly

exasperated.

The knowledge that those two were consummating their marriage just a few

meters away from her made her feel even more irritated, causing her to kick

those rocks with greater force than before. As a result, the opposite wall

ended up being filled with holes.

…

Some time later, Chu Chuyan’s cold expression gradually mellowed down.

Her tears had already dried up, but her eyes were still glistening as

beautifully as ever. She felt a hint of strength returning back to her limbs.

The final shreds of her modesty made her instinctively push the man on her

aside, but her strength was still too lacking at the moment.

She had never felt so helpless before in her entire life. Under normal

circumstances, all she needed was a single finger to press Zu An down, yet

the tables were turned on her today. Hmph! Once I recover my strength, I’ll

show him what true strength is!

But barely after those thoughts surfaced in her mind, it was dissipated with

a powerful ram from Zu An.

Her cheeks flushed like blazing flames as her initial resistance gradually

turned into subconscious compliance…

Some time later, she suddenly heard Mi Li’s voice sounding in her ears,

“Guard your spirit. From this point onward, circulate the ki in your body

using the formula I’ve imparted to you earlier. Make sure that you

assimilate his precious blood essence entirely.”

Chu Chuyan’s body shuddered as her skin further reddened. She was

looking at us all along?

A feeling of shame and awkwardness swiftly engulfed her mind, leaving

her on the verge of losing her mind.

“Don’t lose concentration right now!” shouted Mi Li.

Chu Chuyan was, after all, an incredibly talented cultivator. She was

blessed with decisiveness and sharp judgment. She knew that it wouldn’t be

worth it if she were to lose this precious opportunity due to her

embarrassment.

So, she began circulating her ki along with the formula imparted to her,

directing Zu An’s blood essence toward her injured ki meridians to repair

them. It was just that every time she reached a critical period, a sudden ram

from Zu An would shatter her composure, undoing her efforts.

Annoyed, she wanted to tell Zu An to cut it out, but her embarrassment

made it hard for her to approach the topic, so she could only bear with it

silently.

In truth, she was also misunderstanding Zu An too. It was not that he was

intentionally being forceful here; on the contrary, he was trying to repair her

collapsed ki meridians as carefully as possible. Unfortunately, he couldn’t

control his strength properly as he hadn’t gotten used to his newly enhanced

body yet. On top of that, Chu Chuyan had never been through such an

experience before, making her incredibly sensitive.

Chu Chuyan kept trying to circulate her ki along with the formula again and

again, but for some reason, she started to feel her consciousness blurring

out…

At the same time, Zu An suddenly noticed something and quickly turned to

the side, only to see Mi Li standing by one side. Alarmed, he quickly

grabbed the clothes on the ground to cover the two of them before asking,

“Big sis empress, what are you doing? While I don’t particularly mind it,

Chuyan might get embarrassed here…”

“Don’t worry, she can’t see me,” replied Mi Li.

Zu An was stunned. He quickly lowered his gaze, only to see Chu Chuyan’s

eyes glazed with confusion. Astounded, he asked, “What’s wrong with

her?”

“Nothing. I just have some things I need to talk to you about,” replied Mi

Li.

Zu An scratched his head awkwardly and said, “Can’t we find another

timing? It feels rather offensive to you to have a conversation at a time like

this.”

Mi Li ignored his words and said, “I’m here to bid my farewell to you.”

“Bid your farewell to me?” You’re going to leave?” asked Zu An anxiously.

“You’ve saved me from the seal, and in return, I helped you save your little

wife. Since we’ve fulfilled the ends of our promise, there’s no reason for me

to remain here anymore,” replied Mi Li.

“But I’ll miss you if you suddenly leave like that,” remarked Zu An. He

was still feeling delighted at how things were finally working out after all of

the hardships he had been through, but the news of Mi Li’s impending

departure made him feel a little empty inside.

Is this what they call ‘camaraderie forged in times of hardship’? Gah! Who

am I lying too? It’s just because she’s pretty, that’s all.

Zu An shot a glance at Chu Chuyan, and he suddenly felt a bit disdainful

toward himself for letting his thoughts wander at a time like this.

You philanderer!

“You’ll miss me?” An enigmatic smile surfaced on Mi Li’s lips. “Perhaps,

we might just meet one another not too long later.”

Zu An sighed softly and said, “You’re a person who stands at the top,

possessing strong cultivation and a lofty standing. While the Qin Dynasty

might have fallen, the two of us clearly live in different worlds. A starving

camel is still bound to be bigger than a horse. I doubt that we’ll have a

chance to meet one another after this parting.”

“A starving camel is still bound to be bigger than a horse? Those words

sound oddly jarring to me,” Mi Li harrumphed. “It’s too early for you to

start missing me now. Perhaps, in our next meeting, you’d rather that we

never had met one another ever again.”

“How could that be? There’s no man who wouldn’t be delighted to meet

with the gorgeous big sis empress, unless he isn’t a man at all!” said Zu An

resolutely.

A rare chuckle sounded from Mi Li, and she remarked, “I hope that you’ll

remember your words!”

Leaving those words behind, her silhouette vanished from view.

Zu An felt a little empty by her sudden departure, but he quickly snapped

out of it and continued healing Chu Chuyan’s injuries with his Primordial

Origin Sutra.

Meanwhile, Mi Li had returned back to outside the ki barrier she had

constructed. She raised her hands and saw that a red teardrop had appeared

on her left palm too. There was a red thread that extended all the way to her

elbow and beyond.

She knew deep well that the red threads had already weaved their way

through her limbs and bones, filling up her entire body. It was just moments

away from reaching her heart.

“It looks like Zhang Han really wasn’t lying. The ‘Red Tears of Lady

Xiang’ does have the prowess to poison even an Earth Immortal to death!”

Mi Li’s eyebrows arched in hatred. “Ying Zheng, you wouldn’t even let me

off even after death, huh?”

Conflict flickered across Mi Li’s eyes. She exhaled deeply before

murmuring, “I guess I have no choice here.”

Black spirals began forming in her eyes before a transparent silhouette

drifted out from her body. Had someone been watching the scene, they

would have noticed that this transparent silhouette looked identical to Mi

Li.

This transparent silhouette drifted upward for a bit before turning around to

gaze at the body on the ground. She could see the red threads fully covering

her body, and the next moment, her body suddenly disintegrated into dust,

scattering along with a gust of wind.

Watching this scene, the transparent silhouette sighed softly, “Ying Zheng,

I’ve gritted my teeth for thousands of years for this day, yet as soon as I was

freed from my restraints, I still ended up getting done in by you. However,

do you think that you can end my life with just this much?”

With a wave of her hand, she tossed a helmet she had casually picked up

aside before swiftly darting through the ki barrier into Chu Chuyan’s body.

Chu Chuyan’s dazed eyes gradually twisted into black spirals, similar to the

ones that had appeared in Mi Li’s eyes earlier. However, Zu An happened to

be distracted by the helmet earlier that he failed to notice it. By the time he

turned his gaze back, all had already reverted back to normal.

Seeing his lover staring at him, Zu An gently wiped off the beads of sweat

on her forehead and said gently, “That scared me. I thought that Mi Li

returned.”

‘Chu Chuyan’ sneered coldly and said, “Do you detest her that much?

That’s not what you said earlier.”

Zu An shook his head and said, “It’s not that I detest her. She’s simply far

too powerful. On top of that, she has already been sealed for several

thousand years now. God knows whether she’s a human or ghost.”

‘Chu Chuyan’ slowly raised her hands and wrapped it around his neck. Her

fingernails began extending eerily before finally stopping right behind his

heart. “So, do you think that she’s a human or a ghost?”

Chapter 193: Confrontation

“A ghost, I guess. A human shouldn’t be able to live for that long,” replied

Zu An after a moment of contemplation.

“Is that so?” remarked ‘Chu Chuyan’ as she prepared to sink her sharp

fingernails into his heart.

“But I think that she’s quite a pitiful person too. She was sealed all alone in

this forlorn underground palace for several millennia, without even a person

to talk to,” Zu An suddenly added.

“Pitiful?” ‘Chu Chuyan’s’ movements came to a halt.

“Indeed, honey. I’ll promise you that I’ll never treat her the way that Ying

Zheng treated you,” vowed Zu An.

“What’s the use of promises? As soon as our interests diverge, you’ll surely

turn your back on me,” sneered ‘Chu Chuyan’.

Zu An sensed that there was something weird with how Chu Chuyan was

speaking, such that he had a feeling that he was talking to another woman

cloaked in Chu Chuyan’s skin. However, this thought was swiftly driven

out of his mind. He thought that it was only normal for Chu Chuyan to act

differently after what she had just been through.

He couldn’t help but scorn himself.

How could I think of other women while I’m with her? That’s too greedy!

“Don’t worry, I’m not that kind of person.” Zu An thought that Chu Chuyan

was just feeling insecure after having lost her first time, so he chose to

console her. “Besides, how could our interests diverge. We’re a couple;

everything of mine is yours. There’s nothing to nitpick between us.”

“I guess so.” ‘Chu Chuyan’ chuckled softly. “You sure have a glib tongue.”

“Can we not talk about other matters now and focus on what we’re doing

instead,” said Zu An as he leaned in closer to kiss her.

‘Chu Chuyan’ tilted her head sideward, dodging his kiss. Sensing the

current condition of her body, she couldn’t help but frown in displeasure. I

thought that this body has already fully recovered, but isn’t she far too

slow?! How could she not heal her ki meridians up even after so long? Just

what in the world has she been doing all this while?

Left with no choice, she could only tolerate the man ramming at her as she

continued her recovery.

She was the empress of the Qin Dynasty after all, so she wasn’t foreign to

such happenings. Back then, her ancestor, Empress Xuan Mi Bazi, in order

to resolve a threat plaguing the northwest borders of the Qin Country, went

to the extent of offering her body up to the King of Yiqu and bore two sons

for him.

After the Qin Country finally bulked up, she found an opportune moment to

kill the King of Yiqu, thus resolving the threat of the Yiqu once and for all.

This set a precedent for the women of the Qin Dynasty’s imperial family.

They viewed their bodies to be no more than tools for a greater goal. It was

not to say that Mi Li had ever used it with that intent before, but she wasn’t

as resistant to it.

Besides, she had no qualms about betraying Ying Zheng at all. In fact, she

would love more than anything for him to witness this sight with his own

eyes and hopefully flip over in his grave.

Meanwhile, Zu An was a little surprised by Chu Chuyan’s reaction. He

didn't know that she would reject his kiss, and for a moment there, she had

an extremely unfamiliar expression on her face.

Fearing that he would see through her disguise, ‘Chu Chuyan’ chose to

divert the topic elsewhere and ask, “Hey, who do you think is more

beautiful, me or Mi Li?”

“Of course it’s you!” replied Zu An unhesitatingly.

“…” ‘Chu Chuyan.

“Is that so?” ‘Chu Chuyan’ sneered coldly as her fingernails began

stretching outward once more.

Zu An paused for a moment before adding, “To be honest, I was just saying

those words to flatter you. Mi Li’s beauty doesn’t lose to yours; the two of

you have different styles. You have a cool, refreshing disposition whereas

she’s noble and majestic. It’s hard to compare the two of you against one

another…”

‘Chu Chuyan’s’ lips finally curled upward, satisfied with his response.

However, she soon noticed something and asked with a frown, “Why did

your body suddenly become so agitated when I start talking about her?”

“…” Zu An.

He had never thought that ‘Chu Chuyan’ would be so sensitive as to detect

minor changes in his body, which made him incredibly awkward. He didn’t

know how to explain this since it would be disastrous of him to explain to

his own wife how he ended up thinking about another woman while getting

hot and steamy with her.

Fortunately, ‘Chu Chuyan’ didn’t continue probing on. She stretched her

hand forward and wrapped them around his waist.

Zu An was more than delighted by her invitation. All this while, she had

been silently accepting whatever he was doing to her, putting him at a loss

as to what her true thoughts were. However, her show of proactiveness put

down the boulder of unease weighing on his heart, and he finally let go of

his restraint and went all out.

‘Chu Chuyan’ found herself getting overwhelmed by Zu An’s furious

assault. She rolled her eyes in fury. Isn’t this woman far too weak? She

can’t even deal with this much!

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +233 Rage!

Zu An was stunned.

Mi Li? Hasn’t she already left the area? Is she secretly eavesdropping in the

area?

Alarmed, he quickly searched the area, but Mi Li was nowhere to be seen.

“What are you doing?” asked ‘Chu Chuyan’.

“Say, is it possible that Mi Li is hiding in the area, secretly watching the

two of us?” asked Zu An with a frown.

‘Chu Chuyan’s’ heart skipped a beat. “I don’t think so. Didn’t she leave

earlier? What made you think that she’s still in the area?”

Zu An shook his head and said, “Well, I hope that I’m thinking too much

into it too.”

‘Chu Chuyan’ replied with an ‘Mm’ before actively wrapping her limbs

around the man on top of her, spurring the heat dominating Zu An’s mind.

With such a beautiful woman seducing him, it didn’t take long for all other

miscellaneous thoughts to be swiftly expelled from his head.

She secretly placed her hand on Zu An’s waist and pressed her slender

fingers down softly, causing Zu An’s body to shudder from delight. He soon

succumbed, causing his yang energy to be swiftly pumped into her body,

amalgamating with her yin energy.

‘Chu Chuyan’ had no qualms with using her body as a tool—not to mention

that this wasn’t her body either—but this body was simply too weak to

endure the tempering of the primordial ki.

She disliked the feeling of her life being grasped in the hands of another

person, not to mention that Zu An was no more than an ant in her eyes. Her

pride didn’t allow her to be dominated by a man of his caliber. She felt that

a mere tool ought to remain as no more than a tool.

Thus, she used her secret art to prematurely unleash his yang energy before

pushing him away to quietly assimilate his blood essence and primordial ki.

Zu An was still intending to continue getting steamy with her, but the

abrupt rejection left his heart feeling a little empty. However, looking at the

situation from another perspective, it could be due to Chu Chuyan not

knowing how to face him.

This thought made the situation far more acceptable to him.

It was then that he noticed that Chu Chuyan had turned her attention back to

cultivation. He felt a burst of respect for her. As expected of a true prodigy.

She really doesn’t let go of any opportunity to cultivate.

Perhaps it was due to the accumulated fatigue from going through battle

after battle, Zu An suddenly felt a little drowsy. Before he knew it, he had

already dozed off.

‘Chu Chuyan’ opened her eyes to glance at him. She hesitated for a moment

before sitting back down to focus on repairing her ki meridians. I’ll decide

what to do next after fully harmonizing my soul with this body.

Some time later, Zu An suddenly felt a chilling sensation on his throat. He

immediately opened his eyes, only to see that Chu Chuyan had put her

clothes back on, reverting back to her usual cold self. She was standing

before the altar with a sword pressed against his neck. Her expression

looked a little unusual, as if she was conflicted over something.

Zu An was immediately jolted awake from his daze. He dared not to move

carelessly, fearing that any sudden movements would agitate the other party

into ending his life. So, he asked carefully, “Honey, what are you doing?”

‘Chu Chuyan’ sneered coldly and said, “I can’t allow a man who has taken

my body to continue existing in this world.”

“…” Zu An.

The hell! Are you serious?

“I went through so much difficulties in order to save you, but you’re going

to kill me for that? Don’t you think that you’re being too ungrateful here?”

exclaimed Zu An.

‘Chu Chuyan’s’ face reddened as she snapped furiously, “Was that even

‘difficult’ for you?”

Zu An also felt that he had, to some extent, taken advantage of the situation

earlier, so he scratched his head sheepishly and said, “Putting that aside,

everything else that I’ve done before should mean something, right? I mean,

I almost died several times trying to save you here!”

‘Chu Chuyan’ harrumphed coldly and said, “You need not feel too wronged

about this. You’ve just enjoyed something which many men never would in

their entire lifetime. You should be able to die in peace with that

knowledge.”

Zu An shook his head and said. “That wouldn’t do. I’m not the kind of man

to give up an entire forest for a tree. You mentioned yourself that you don’t

mind me looking for another woman. If you no longer want to be with me,

we can just split up and live our own lives. Is there a need for you to be so

callous with me?”

‘Chu Chuyan’ was stunned. She never thought that the two of them would

have such a bizarre promise between them, though what infuriated her more

was Zu An’s attitude toward this matter.

Why are you acting all so self-righteous when talking about cheating on

your own wife?

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +404 Rage!

The sudden influx of Rage points from Mi Li shocked Zu An once more.

He stared at Chu Chuyan intently with a contemplative look on his face.

“A man like you is only going to scourge the world. For the sake of all

womankind, I shall eliminate you here!” ‘Chu Chuyan’s’ sword darted

straight toward Zu An’s neck. She knew that there was no way that Zu An

would be able to dodge this sword with his strength.

But to her astonishment, her attack actually landed empty.

She glared at Zu An coldly and said, “You anticipated my attack and

dodged it in advance?”

How could he know that I would really make a move on him? Even before I

moved my sword, he had already moved sideward to dodge!

Zu An felt cold sweat dripping down his back as he murmured fearfully,

“Big sis empress, it’s actually you!”

‘Chu Chuyan’ was stunned. “How did you know it’s me?”

With her standing and cultivation rank, she couldn’t even be bothered to

cook up lies before Zu An to deceive him. She was confident that she was

in control of the situation here, and that Zu An couldn’t possibly hope to

turn things around on her anymore.

Hearing her admittance, Zu An felt his heart sinking. “What did you do to

Chuyan?”

“Chuyan? Needless to say, she’s dead.” ‘Chu Chuyan’ raised her hands to

look at her own slender hands. “I have to admit that her body is really not

bad. She might be weak at the moment, but her aptitude is decent. She

barely meets the mark for my new body.”

Upon hearing that Chu Chuyan was dead, Zu An felt his body turning

stone-cold. “You were already harboring such intentions right from the start

when you imparted that formula to her!”

Chapter 194: Mercy

“Indeed, that’s a formula that I happened to stumble upon. By circulating

her ki according to the formula, she fully opened up her heart and body,

resulting in the weakening of her will. That made it much easier for me to

enter her body.”

Even though it was Chu Chuyan’s body, the other party was speaking with

the same tone and attitude as Mi Li.

“Why did you possess her body? You already have your own, and in terms

of beauty and cultivation, you don’t lose out to her either…” A thought

suddenly arose in Zu An’s mind then, and he exclaimed, “Wait a moment,

could it be that poison Zhang Han used earlier?”

‘Chu Chuyan’ nodded in response. “The Red Tears of Lady Xiang was far

more potent than I thought. Even with my cultivation, I was unable to resist

the terrifying lethality of the poison. It took just a few moments for the

poison to fully scourge my body. I only managed to escape with my soul

through using a secret art I’ve learned by chance, but even so, my soul is

also afflicted with a tinge of the poison. I’m in a far weaker state than

before.”

She paused for a brief moment before supplementing, “Of course, it’s more

than enough to deal with you.”

“That’s why you chose to take Chu Chuyan’s body for your own?” Zu An

couldn’t believe how that dastardly Zhang Han still continued to haunt him

even after his death! His mind swiftly whirred into action as he tried to

figure out a solution.

“Indeed,” replied Chu Chuyan with a sneer. “I told you that we would meet

again very soon, but you didn’t believe me.”

Zu An finally understood why Mi Li would say those words earlier on, even

emphasizing that their reunion might be less than pleasant.

“Big sis empress, we did have a good partnership with one another earlier,

no? There’s no need for us to turn against each other. Why don’t I find

another host for you to possess instead?” said Zu An.

‘Chu Chuyan’ shook her head and said, “I’m satisfied with the body I have

now; I don’t want to switch into anyone else’s. Besides, did you think that

it’s easy to assimilate a soul into a body? My soul has already sustained

some damage earlier on; if I were to switch into another person’s body, my

soul will sustain irreparable damage, perhaps dissipating even. Why should

I take such a risk?”

The realization that there was no win-win solution out of this made Zu An’s

heart sink. His voice also turned cold as well, “You signed a contract with

me earlier. You can’t hurt us. Aren’t you afraid of divine retribution?”

‘Chu Chuyan’ burst into laughter, causing her originally cold face to

suddenly appear a little seductive. “But I’ve already saved her in

accordance with our promise. Besides, Mi Li is already dead now. Even if

there’s divine retribution, it should all be over by now.”

“Did you think that your deeds can be concealed from the eyes of heaven?”

Zu An figured that since even the Keyboard was able to sense that she was

Mi Li, surely heaven, whatever it was, would be able to tell the same too.

Heaven was a very abstract concept to him, but this world seemed to

believe in its existence. He was just worried that the divine retribution

would accidentally hurt Chu Chuyan too.

“Are you trying to stall for time to see if the contract would be evoked?”

‘Chu Chuyan’ could see through his thoughts right away. “You need not

bother. The contract we signed was null.”

“Null?” Zu An was stunned.

‘Chu Chuyan’ sneered coldly, “Did you think that I would shackle myself

so easily? I wasn’t the one who personally placed my thumbprint on the

contract; you took my finger and pressed it down on it. Since the contract

wasn’t sealed on my own accord, it goes without saying that it isn’t

binding.”

“???” Zu An.

Wait a moment, is there such a rule to it too? The hell!

Zu An felt deeply remorseful. Now that he thought about it, it did make

much sense.

‘Chu Chuyan’ raised the sword up high and said, “I’ve only explained

everything to you out of gratitude that you’ve freed me from my seal. It

should all come to an end now.”

“Wait a moment!” Zu An suddenly shouted out. “I have a suggestion!”

“What is it?” Perhaps it was due to her long isolation that resulted in her

desire for human contact, ‘Chu Chuyan’ actually decided to listen to him. In

the past, she would have never bothered exchanging so many words with a

mere ant.

Zu An put away his enraged expression and said, “Well, big sis empress,

why don’t you continue living on as Chu Chuyan then? Chu Chuyan and I

are just a couple in name anyway. As long as you’re willing, I’ll get a real

wife whereas you’ll get someone to conceal your identity. You’ve been

alone several thousand years now; the lonely nights must be hard for you to

bear. We happen to get along just fine anyway, so why don’t we just make

do with one another?”

“…” Mi Li.

“…” Chu Chuyan.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +666 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Chu Chuyan for +666 Rage!

Upon seeing Chu Chuyan’s name in the system, Zu An heaved a sigh of

relief. He had intentionally said those words in order to see if the real Chu

Chuyan was still conscious inside her body. It seems like her soul is still

around. That means that there’s still hope here.

However, Mi Li was unaware of Zu An’s real intention. She never thought

that there would be such a shameless man in the world. She was still feeling

touched by the deep feelings they harbored for one another a moment ago,

but as soon as danger struck, he immediately abandoned her without second

thoughts!

Pui! Men are all the same!

Zu An acted as if he was oblivious to Mi Li’s anger as he continued on,

“Big sis empress, you might be strong, but you’ve been sealed for over a

thousand years now. The world has changed greatly since the Qin Dynasty,

so it’s only normal for you to be unfamiliar with how things are now. It’ll

be hard for you to move around in your current state. If you were to

accidentally let it slip that you’re actually a soul forcefully possessing Chu

Chuyan’s body, the cultivators of the world would surely raise their arms to

subdue you. I know that you have the strength to deal with it, but surely

having such flies buzzing around you must be annoying, no?”

A mocking smile crept onto Mi Li’s face. “Your words are indeed

persuasive. However, you’re simply too despicable of a person to trust.

Even Zhao Gao doesn’t hold a candle to you.”

Zu An’s face immediately collapsed. “Can you not compare me to a

eunuch? It really raises my goosebumps.”

Mi Li’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. Ah, there’s one aspect which he’s

unlike Zhao Gao. At least he’s not impotent.

That thought barely flashed across his mind for a moment before she

quickly snapped out of it and said, “Are you done yet? If so, it’s time for

you to get on your way.”

“W-wait! I still have more to say!” exclaimed Zu An. “Big sis empress,

won’t you at least consider it? I mean, it’s not your body anyway, so you

have nothing to lose. In fact, I’ll make you savor every moment of it…

Cough cough, I mean, you can count on me to take good care of you and

familiarize you with the new world!”

“…” Mi Li.

“…” Chu Chuyan.

You have successfully trolled Chu Chuyan for +1024 Rage!

Zu An was overjoyed to see that. He felt that he might just be able to

provoke Chu Chuyan enough for her to gain sufficient strength to wrestle

back control over her body.

Mi Li took in a deep breath before saying, “You’ve really reached a new

peak of shamelessness here. Since I’ve taken over her body, I’ll do her

favor and help her get rid of the bane of her life.”

Zu An was displeased to hear that. “You were the one who took her place

and ruined our love for one another. Yet, you still want to stand on the

moral high ground and criticize me for my actions. If anyone is shameless

here, it’s indubitably you!”

Mi Li was enraged by those words. “You’re courting death!”

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +730 Rage!

Her sword rushed forth toward Zu An.

Zu An immediately used the Sunflower Phantasm to dodge her attack, but

as soon as he summoned his ki, he suddenly felt an unbearable heat

assaulting his abdomen, causing his ki to suddenly go into disarray. This

resulted in a significant slowdown in the flow of his ki.

He suddenly remembered how Old Mi suddenly trailed off while talking

about the requirements for cultivating this technique and put it together with

all of those movies he had seen in his previous life. In just an instant, he had

already figured out what was going on.

Most likely, Sunflower Phantasm was a technique that could only be

practiced by eunuchs. He was only able to fulfill the condition previously

due to ‘little Zu An’ being sealed, but the release of the seal had made him a

real man. As a result, he couldn’t use Sunflower Phantasm anymore.

That moment of daze bought enough time for Mi Li’s sword to rush forth

and pierce right into his chest.

“Gah!”

The powerful force thrust Zu An across the air, pinning him to the other end

of the underground hall just like Zhang Han.

Mi Li shot him one last glance and murmured, “You should learn to quieten

down once you get to the underworld.”

After saying her piece, she was about to turn around and leave when she

suddenly heard a strained voice coming from behind, “I count on my face

and my words to make a living, so how could I possibly quieten down?”

Mi Li turned around and gasped in shock, “Y-you… You aren’t dead yet?!”

She was able to kill even Zhang Han with a single blow, though a huge part

of the reason was due to Zhang Han losing his will to live. Nevertheless, the

fact still stood that Zhang Han was a ninth rank cultivator whereas Zu An

was only at the third rank!

“As the saying goes, a couple for a day, a hundred days of gratitude. You

must have subconsciously gone easy on me out of consideration of the deep

bond we shared earlier.” Zu An pulled out the sword lodged into his chest

with a smile.

At the same time, he patted his chest in relief that he had activated the

Heiress’ Ball of Delights in advance earlier, thus allowing him to avert the

fatal blow.

He was worried for a moment there that his wealth might exceed Mi Li’s.

After all, he was a hundred thousandaire now. If Mi Li was really poorer

than him, not only would he be wasting a precious use of the artifact, he

would also die here!

He had never hated himself for being rich so much in his entire life, but

fortunately, everything went well.

Mi Li was the empress of the Qin Dynasty after all, a person of great wealth

and prestige. The Qin Dynasty might have fallen, but this mausoleum was

supposed to belong to her, which meant that everything that was buried here

was her possession.

Besides, Mi Li was possessing Chu Chuyan’s body, who probably had a

fortune of at least a million silver taels, considering how she was actively

involved in all of the businesses of the Chu clan. So, regardless of whether

the Heiress’ Ball of Delight was taking Mi Li or Chu Chuyan’s wealth into

consideration, they ought to be richer than him.

Mi Li was completely stunned by this development.

Did I really fall for him, such that I subconsciously went easy on him? How

could that be possible?!

Chapter 195: Wood Elf

The notion that she would actually fall in love with a mere ant left Mi Li

feeling utterly frenzied.

Zu An made use of the opportunity where she was doubting her own tastes

to drive the Primordial Origin Sutra in order to heal his wounds. He had to

say that his body was indeed much more resilient now that it had been

tempered by the primordial ki.

In the past, had he suffered such a powerful blow, his chest would have

been burst open by the sword ki a long time ago. Whatever organs that were

in his chest should have been reduced to meat paste by now.

Yet, there was only a deep, gaping wound in his chest at the moment. Make

no mistake, it was definitely a fatal wound, but it was recovering at a visible

rate.

It wasn’t easy for him to pull the sword out of his chest. Hearing the

scraping sound between the sword and his ribcage, Zu An couldn’t help but

fall into a wistful daze as he thought about how frightened he would be if

such a thing had happened to him in his previous life.

At the same time, he wondered if Chu Chuyan’s sword might be infected

with tetanus—that would have been horrible. However, considering his

current constitution, he reckoned that it would be hard for that kind of

disease to get him down.

“W-what are you doing?!” Qiao Xueying’s shocked voice sounded from not

too far away. She had rushed over to take a look upon hearing the

commotion by the doorway.

What she saw really frightened her. Zu An was sliding down the cavern

wall with a trail of blood behind him. Vaguely, she saw him holding onto a

familiar-looking bloodied sword.

Isn’t that Chu Chuyan’s Snowflower Sword?

Qiao Xueying quickly rushed over to support the limp Zu An. From close-

up, he could see just how terrifying his wounds were. She instinctively

reached into her robe to grab a bottle of medicine to treat him, but she

belatedly realized that she had already used up everything in the earlier

battle.

“Miss Chu, are you out of your mind?!” Qiao Xueying glared at ‘Chu

Chuyan’ in anger. “I know that it might be hard for you to accept what had

happened earlier on, but it was done all in order to save you. You need not

go to this extent, right?!”

Zu An was surprised to see Qiao Xueying standing up for him. He

remarked with a helpless smile, “The one who tried to save me earlier is

killing me now, and the one who tried to kill me earlier is saving me now.

This world sure is a funny place.”

Qiao Xueying glared at Zu An sharply. “You are in the mood for jokes even

after suffering such a severe injury?”

“I’m still alive, aren’t I?” Zu An could feel her softness of her body, and it

made it hard for him to associate her with the woman who had been trying

to kill him all this while.

Qiao Xueying was stunned. All this while, she thought of Zu An as a

despicable man who was afraid of death, but he was surprisingly calm in

the face of his demise. In comparison, another person who always kept a

refined appearance before him turned out showing his ugly side in the face

of death.

Mi Li looked at the duo before her as a mocking smile crept on her lips. “I

didn’t think that someone as lowly as you would be fancied by so many

women.”

Pricked by those words, Qiao Xueying immediately pushed Zu An to the

side and exclaimed, “Who fancies this fellow?!”

Zu An, on the other hand, looked gleeful with how things turned out. He

shrugged casually and said, “What can I do about this? I’m handsome and

well-cultured. No woman who has come to know me is able to resist my

charm. Big sis empress, you might have also fallen in love with me too, or

else why would you say those words of jealousy?”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

“…” Mi Li.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +513 Rage!

“You’re courting death!”

Mi Li waved her sleeves, and a sword tens of meters long burst forth.

“Be careful!” Zu An immediately prepared to dodge right after saying those

words. He held Qiao Xueying in his arms and rolled a few rounds on the

ground before managing to dodge that attack.

A deep sword gorge appeared from where Mi Li was standing all the way to

the wall where the two of them were leaning on just a moment ago. It

looked almost as if the world had been severed into two.

Qiao Xueying was flabbergasted. “T-this…”

She could hardly believe what she was seeing. Having been with Chu

Chuyan for a long time now, she was more aware than anyone else just how

talented the latter was. There was no way the other party could be this

powerful!

Zu An quickly explained to her, “Be careful! She isn’t Chuyan anymore.

She has been possessed by Mi Li!”

“What?!” Qiao Xueying quickly turned to Chu Chuyan in shock. That

would explain why the other party was behaving so unusually. “Did Miss

Chu…”

Zu An quickly shook his head and replied, “Chuyan is still fine. It’s just that

her soul has been suppressed for the time being, leading to her losing

control over her body.”

Mi Li placed her hands behind her back and assessed Zu An in interest,

“Despite your low cultivation, your eyes are quite sharp.”

“Of course! You haven’t seen my true capabilities yet. With time, you’ll

come to see the wide extent of knowledge I boast. I can even let you have a

taste of the ‘secret arts’ of those Japanese masters!”

“Japanese? What is that?” Mi Li was perplexed as to what Zu An was

saying, but she wasn’t that interested either. “With that bit of skills you

have, there’s no secret art you can possibly bring out that would impress

me.”

It was then that she paused for a moment before asking, “Though I do have

a lingering doubt in my mind. How do you know my name right from the

start?”

There was no way Zu An would reveal the existence of the Keyboard to her,

so he replied, “Didn’t I tell you that I’m Ying Zheng’s reincarnation? From

the moment I heard your voice, your name surfaced right at the top of my

head.”

“Like hell I’ll believe that!” Mi Li harrumphed as she flung her sleeves

furiously, sending another burst of sword ki toward Zu An.

“Be careful!” Qiao Xueying immediately pulled Zu An to the side in order

to dodge the attack.

Yet, who could have known that Zu An would try to pull her in the other

direction to evade the attack, resulting in them offsetting each other’s

strength. Their bodies were jolted backward before crashing back into one

another, resulting in them stopping on the spot.

“…” Zu An.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

However, what was even more surprising was that the burst of sword ki

suddenly divided into two and diverged from the two of them. It seemed

like Mi Li had learned from her previous lesson and aimed her attack in

prediction of where they could have evaded. It was this stroke of

coincidence that led to them being stuck on the spot, thus dodging Mi Li’s

sure-kill attack.

“…” Mi Li.

Zu An burst into laughter. He looked at the woman in his embrace and

remarked, “Wow, we were actually able to dodge even this attack. It looks

like you really are my star of fortune.”

Qiao Xueying quickly shoved him off before glaring at him with a reddened

face.

“Please, look at the occasion, won’t you! Why the hell are you acting like a

coy young lady at a time like this?” Zu An was rendered speechless.

“Besides, I can’t feel anything from that airplane runway of yours! If

anything, I only feel your ribcage jabbing at me. You’re nothing compared

to big sis empress!”

Those words went against his conscience a little. It was true that Qiao

Xueying had a slender frame, but she wasn’t that small as to really be

considered flat. At the very least, she was bigger than Chu Huanzhao.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +325 Rage!

She had no idea what an airplane runway was, but it didn’t take a genius to

figure out what Zu An was driving at. Naturally, there was no woman who

liked having her body criticized, regardless of whether it was big or small.

Mi Li thought about everything that had happened while she was

recuperating from her wounds. It was true that this wasn’t her body, but

still, she was experiencing it all from a first person perspective…

And as if that wasn’t enough, Zu An was bragging about it before another

person.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +404 Rage!

“I’ve never seen anyone as hateful as you before. Since you want to die that

much, I’ll fulfill your wish!”

Right after saying those words, a black circle suddenly formed in front of

her, swiftly manifesting innumerable swords out of ki. Then, like a machine

gun, the swords shot toward the two of them with frightening momentum.

“Holy shit!” Zu An’s eyes nearly popped out. The entire area was filled

with sword ki that there was no way for him to hide at all!

It was not that he had never seen flying swords before. Back in the Clans

Tournament, Yuan Wendong had used his metal elemental powers to control

multiple swords at once, and Shi Kun also had his wind blades too.

However, those were nothing in comparison to what he was facing at this

very moment. The sheer pressure exerted by those swords was enough to

leave him in despair.

This woman is really intending to end my life!

“Be careful!”

Qiao Xueying quickly rushed in front, and her hair began growing like

crazy, forming a thorny shrub in a split instant. At the same time, countless

green leaves gathered to form a barrier before them.

The blades stabbed right into the shrub, gradually whittling it down. It grew

thinner and thinner before dissipating away. Following that, the sword ki

advanced on to the green leaves barrier, which lasted for only three breaths

before collapsing too.

Determination flashed across Qiao Xueying’s eyes as she pushed Zu An

away while resolving herself to be pierced through by the sword.

“Snow!” shouted Zu An.

Qiao Xueying was torn into countless pieces by the ravaging sword ki right

before his eyes.

“You actually killed her!” Zu An’s eyes reddened in fury as he glared at Mi

Li hatefully.

“What are you screaming for? She isn’t dead yet!” Mi Li harrumphed as she

glanced sideward.

Tens of meters away, Qiao Xueying’s body gradually appeared, but her face

had turned pale.

It was then that Zu An remembered that she had a life preservation skill

named ‘Moon’s Reflection’ or something. She had used it to deal with the

Poisonous Prick back then.

“Are you alright?”

Zu An rushed forward to inspect her body.

“Don’t touch me!” Qiao Xueying swatted his hands away coldly.

“It’s good that you’re fine, it’s good that you’re fine.” Zu An breathed a

sigh of relief.

“We might be fine now, but it doesn’t look like it’ll stay that way for long.”

Qiao Xueying’s complexion looked horrible. She felt that a lifetime’s worth

of bad luck had suddenly assaulted her. She was first betrayed by Shi Kun,

then she used her most precious Half Life’s Fate, and now she had

squandered two uses of Moon’s Reflection here, a skill which she could

only use three times in her whole life!

Just what in the world did I owe this fellow my previous life?!

Mi Li looked at her in interest. “So it’s the secret art of the Elf Tribe,

Moon’s Reflection. Judging from the skills you have used thus far, you

must be a wood elf.”

Zu An was stunned. He assessed Qiao Xueying closely and asked, “You’re

an elf?”

Chapter 196: You Stupid Sword

Zu An had seen all kinds of dramas and movies regarding elves. They were

supposed to be the most beautiful, graceful, and compassionate race out

there in the world. Countless otakus had probably drooled over them in

their homes.

“Is there anything wrong with that?” Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes.

“There’s no problem with it, just that… aren’t elves supposed to have

pointed ears?” Zu An asked as he propped up the air covering her ears.

Qiao Xueying pushed his hands away with an awful look on her face.

It was Mi Li who answered his question, “She seems to be a half-elf. In

other words, she’s a cross-breed between a human and an elf.”

Qiao Xueying’s face paled further. This matter had been a thorn in her heart

for the longest time, and her head was often lowered in shame due to this.

Unexpectedly, Zu An suddenly burst into laughter and said, “Ah, so she’s

multiracial! That’s good. Multiracial people tend to be the most beautiful,

and they tend to inherit the strength and talents of both their parents.”

Qiao Xueying was taken aback by those words. All of those who learned of

her identity would usually criticize her for her impure lineage. This was the

first time she was hearing of the term ‘multiracial’, but somehow, it brought

her great comfort.

“Thank you,” whispered Qiao Xueying softly. In so many years, he was the

first one who hadn’t discriminated against her, even finding a reason to

comfort her.

Zu An replied with a smile, “You need not thank me. Speaking of which,

what do you think of me? Why don’t we make do with one another and bear

a multiracial baby too? I bet our son will be the most handsome being in the

world, and our daughter will have beauty rivaling even the goddesses!”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

Okay, I take back what I said earlier. It looks like his shamelessness is an

incurable disease.

“If I remember correctly, the Elf Tribe’s Moon Reflection should allow

them to teleport their bodies several kilometers away, serving both as a

survival and escape mean. Yet, you’re still here… Is it for this shameless

man?” asked Mi Li teasingly.

Zu An stared at Qiao Xueying in shock, and the latter immediately

protested, “How could I be doing it for him? Of course it’s for Miss Chu,

whom I’m indebted to! Hurry up and get out of her body right now, or else

I’ll make sure to make things tough for you even at the expense of my own

life!”

Mi Li burst into laughter in the face of Qiao Xueying’s threat, causing the

underground cavern to tremor a little. A moment later, she finally reined in

her smile and sneered, “You’re going to do that?”

Qiao Xueying’s face paled. Even from the earlier laughter, it was apparent

that Mi Li was far stronger than her. She stood no chance at victory here.

“Don’t forget, I’m here too!” Zu An stepped forward and grabbed Qiao

Xueying’s hand.

Perhaps she wasn’t paying any heed to it since they were already in the face

of death, or that she had simply gotten used to it since they had been

holding hands through the three trials, Qiao Xueying didn’t try to shake off

Zu An’s hand this time around. Instead, the warmth imparted to her made

her feel much more confident and assured.

“…” Mi Li.

You’re just a third rank cultivator. What can you possibly do here?

Zu An made use of this opportunity to console Qiao Xueying, saying, “You

don’t need to be afraid. She has been greatly weakened due to her soul

leaving her previous body. On top of that, the earlier poison seems to have

afflicted her soul too. Given how potent it is, as long as we were to hold on,

she might just end up succumbing first.”

One must know that Qiao Xueying’s shrub had been utterly obliterated by

Zhang Han in an instant earlier on, but it was actually able to fend against

Mi Li’s sword ki for quite a while. This hinted that Mi Li had become

severely weakened.

Qiao Xueying’s spirits immediately perked up upon hearing that.

“There’s no need to whisper amongst yourselves; I can hear you loud and

clear. You’re right, I’m indeed severely weakened at the moment. However,

I still have more than enough strength to curb the two of you!” Mi Li

harrumphed coldly.

With a wave of her sleeves, she sent another outburst of sword ki toward Zu

An and Qiao Xueying.

Her sword ki was much less concentrated this time around, so Zu An and

Qiao Xueying immediately took evasive measures. But halfway through,

the sword ki suddenly converged into a crescent arc to strike down on Qiao

Xueying.

With a cry of agony, Qiao Xueying spurted out a mouthful of blood and

collapsed on the floor.

Mi Li had made sure to control her strength properly, inflicting severe

wounds on Qiao Xueying while making sure not to go too far as to make

the latter feel that her life was at risk, thus leaving her unwilling to resort to

her final use of Moon’s Reflection lest she escaped from this cavern and

divulged her secrets.

And just as she had predicted, Qiao Xueying indeed didn’t use her trump

card.

I might not be able to kill her in a single move, but as long as I accumulate

enough damage on her, it’s only a matter of time before she’s sent to hell!

By the time Qiao Xueying realized what Mi Li was up to, it was already too

late. She couldn’t move at all, let alone channel her ki to activate Moon’s

Reflection. She could only watch helplessly as a massive sword slashed in

her direction.

But all of a sudden, a figure dashed forward and blocked the sword for her.

The sword slashed down on Zu An’s back, causing him to spurt a mouthful

of blood. Qiao Xueying watched the man in front of her with a

flabbergasted look on her face. For a long time, she wasn’t able to say

anything at all.

“What deep feelings the two of you have for one another,” sneered Mi Li.

“Since that’s the case, I’ll send the two of you off together!”

She slashed her sword once more, unleashing multiple streams of sword ki

on Zu An all at once. She was intending to cut them down together and end

this farce once and for all.

“Run!” exclaimed Qiao Xueying. She knew that Zu An wouldn’t be able to

save her, and he would only end up getting sliced to pieces at this rate.

“How can I abandon you at a time like this?” Zu An wiped off the trail of

blood on his lips and directed a cool smile toward her. However, he was

definitely not as relaxed as he was appearing at the moment. He was

desperately driving his primordial ki to protect his body, praying that the

Heiress’ Ball of Delights would continue working its wonder.

He was worried that the Heiress’ Ball of Delight wouldn’t be able to

reassemble him if he were to be reduced into minced meat.

Pu pu pu!

All of the sword ki landed on Zu An’s body, causing his blood to splatter all

over. Qiao Xueying’s eyes brimmed with tears as she watched the man

before her was reduced to a bloodied mess. To her surprise, however, his

body still remained mostly intact. It wasn’t sliced to pieces as she expected.

Mi Li also widened her eyes in astonishment as she began to doubt herself.

Have I been weakened to the point where I can’t even defeat a third rank

cultivator anymore?

Zu An could feel his body desperately trying to take in the surrounding

primordial ki. He felt that this mausoleum was definitely built on a blessed

land as the primordial ki lingering in the area was extremely concentrated,

possibly accumulated over the span of over a thousand years. Otherwise,

there was no way it would have been sufficient to fuel the recovery of his

injuries.

Seeing that Zu An had spurted out yet another mouthful of blood, Qiao

Xueying quickly rushed forward to wipe off the blood from his lips and

asked worriedly, “Are you alright?”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” Zu An put on the coolest smile he could think of as

he replied. Given his nature, there was no way he wouldn’t exploit this

opportunity to act cool.

Qiao Xueying’s lips also curled up into a helpless smile too. She used to

hate his lackadaisical attitude, but it was somehow bringing her comfort

now. No matter what kind of circumstance he’s in, he still remains so

optimistic.

As his injuries recovered to a fair degree, Zu An shakily climbed back to his

feet. He knew that it wouldn’t do for him to continue taking a beating from

Mi Li.

No matter how powerful the Heiress’ Ball of Delights was, he wasn’t

willing to gamble on its ability to keep him alive when he was torn into

pieces. He would have to retaliate to stand any chance of getting out of this

alive.

Sensing Zu An’s fighting will, Mi Li remarked, “Despite your low

cultivation, your willpower is far stronger than I thought. I’m truly

impressed here. It’s no wonder why you were able to break the Human,

Earth, and Heaven Seal.”

“Hah, to think that you still remember those three seals! Is this how you

repay someone who saved you from the prison you were in?” spat Zu An.

Mi Li sighed softly and said, “I wasn’t planning on taking your life either,

but I didn’t expect to fall for the Red Tears of Lady Xiang. I had no choice

but to use your wife’s body, and you did something unforgivable to me

afterward. I can’t possibly keep you alive after everything that has

happened.”

Her face began reddening, though it was hard to tell whether it was out of

rage or embarrassment.

Zu An cried in indignance, “I was supposed to be getting steamy with my

wife, but you snuck in on your own accord. How could you blame me for

that?!”

“I let you take advantage of you; that’s more than enough to repay the debt

of gratitude I owe to you for saving my life. Now, you should be able to die

in peace!”

Mi Li was incredibly frustrated at the moment. She was the empress of the

Great Qin Dynasty, the number one beauty of the Central Plains, a noble

personage standing beneath only the Sovereign Emperor. Countless men

would be willing to give their lives up just to have a whiff of her fragrance,

but this fellow actually wasn’t content with taking advantage of her?

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +999 Rage!

Zu An finally understood why Mi Li was so angry at him. It turned out that

she couldn’t stand the notion of being taken advantage of!

He felt incredibly indignant about this. If he had really gotten on Mi Li’s

body earlier, he could at least accept her attempts to kill him, but the one he

was getting steamy with earlier was his wife!

This was a huge loss!

Zu An took in a deep breath and sneered coldly, “I’m someone who

managed to clear the Human, Earth, and Heaven Seal. Did you think that I

wouldn’t have any trump cards?”

“Oh? I would like to have a look for myself then,” replied Mi Li.

She was indeed curious as to see what secrets Zu An had in store. Till now,

she found it hard to believe how someone as weak as him was able to pull

off such a miracle.

Zu An’s body was trembling weakly, on the verge of collapsing over at any

moment. Yet, he insisted on standing upright with his chest pumped out as

he said, “Tai’e, since you have already acknowledged me as your master,

stand by me as we subdue this demoness together! Show your glory to the

world once more!”

He raised his hand up and bellowed, “Come, my sword!”

The Tai’e Sword was still pinned to the wall from Mi Li’s killing blow on

Zhang Han earlier on.

Mi Li was shocked to hear those words. She knew just how powerful the

Tai’e Sword was. If Zu An was really able to summon its prowess, she

would be hard-pressed to deal with him in her current state.

She quickly gathered her ki in preparation to defend herself against the

powerful Tai’e Sword, but soon, she found herself dumbfounded. The Tai’e

Sword was still lodged into the wall, not moving at all.

This placed Zu An in an incredibly awkward position. Why does other

people’s swords fly over as soon as they give the command whereas mine

doesn’t do shit at all! Do I really not have a protagonist’s halo?

Unwilling to give up, he bellowed once more, “Come over, you stupid

sword!”

He even tried to send a sliver of his ki over to draw the Tai’e Sword over,

but unfortunately, he was only at the third rank. He wasn’t able to manifest

his ki over long distances yet, so it dissipated barely after leaving his body.

Thus, the Tai’e Sword remained fixed on the wall.

Even with someone as brazen as Zu An, he still found himself utterly

humiliated. “Goddamnit, come right now!”

Unfortunately, the Tai’e Sword still remained fixed on the wall, not budging

at all. Even Qiao Xueying couldn’t bear the cringy sight anymore and

covered her own face. This was simply too painful to watch!

“Hahaha! Are you intend to kill me with laughter since you aren’t able to do

it with force?” Mi Li laughed fearlessly.

Chapter 197: Face to Face

After chuckling for a moment, Mi Li’s face suddenly turned severe. “I

won’t waste my time fooling around with you anymore.”

This time around, she rushed straight toward Zu An herself. After her sword

ki failed to take his life time and time again, she decided to make the move

personally.

Zu An was appalled by the sight. He quickly dodged to the side while

berating, “Tai’e, you bastard! I swear that you’ll be dead meat if you don’t

get down right now!”

The Tai’e Sword shuddered a little as a metallic reverberation echoed in the

air. It fell from the cliff and flew straight into Zu An’s hands.

Overjoyed, Zu An immediately swung the sword toward the incoming Mi

Li.

Mi Li was horrified by the turn of events. She wouldn’t fear Zu An and the

Tai’e Sword if she had been in her peak, but in her current state, she had no

choice but to avoid facing them directly.

Zu An finally got a chance to examine the sword in his hand closely. He

flicked its blade as he remarked, “What a wretched sword you are. You

refused to move when I asked you nicely. You needed me to raise my voice

at you and threaten you before you're finally willing to move.”

Weng weng weng~

The sword whirred a little in protest, unhappy with the way how Zu An was

phrasing it.

Mi Li glanced at the Tai’e Sword for a moment, but she decided against

confronting it head-on. “Isn’t that just like you? It’s no wonder why it

resonates well with you.”

“Hey! Just because you can stuff whatever you want into your mouth

doesn’t mean that you can let whatever you want spill out from it!” Zu An

harrumphed. “What do you mean by that it’s like me? Do I look wretched to

you?”

“Is that not the case?” sneered Mi Li.

Even Qiao Xueying, who was collapsed weakly in a puddle of blood,

nodded in agreement.

Zu An coughed softly to conceal his awkwardness before swiftly changing

the topic. “What’s the use of saying so much? Now that I have the almighty

sword in my hand, I shall show you why flowers are red!”

“You want to teach me a lesson?” It was as if Mi Li had heard the most

hilarious joke in the world. “If Tai’e Sword is at its peak, I might still

hesitate a little in its face. But now? Heh!”

Right after saying those words, she suddenly appeared right in front of Zu

An.

Zu An was horrified. He quickly swung his sword at Mi Li frantically,

launching a barrage of extremely aggressive attacks. He had chosen to

abandon all defense and go all out to bring Mi Li down at all costs, which

was a wise move since he had the Heiress’ Ball of Delight sustaining the

final bit of his health bar and the Primordial Origin Ki constantly healing

him up.

Mi Li frowned in response. She couldn’t bear the thought of even suffering

the slightest injuries in the hands of a mere ant. She began to retreat, but it

only raised Zu An’s spirits higher and he upped his aggression a notch

higher.

Unfortunately, the gap between the two of them was too great. It didn’t take

long for Mi Li to find an opening in his attacks and retaliate, knocking him

into the sky, where he flew in an arc before crashing heavily into the

ground.

“Ah Zu!” exclaimed Qiao Xueying.

She tried to rush forward to catch him, but the severity of her injuries

hindered her movements.

“Since you care for him that much, the two of you can become a pair of

lovebirds in the afterlife!” sneered Mi Li.

She raised her hand to end Qiao Xueying’s life too, but a feeble voice

suddenly sounded behind her, “I’m not dead yet!”

The two women immediately turned around. Qiao Xueying was overjoyed

to see that Zu An was still breathing whereas Mi Li was utterly shocked.

The force she had used earlier would have been enough to kill even a fifth

rank cultivator, let alone a third rank like him!

Zu An shakily got back to his feet. It was extremely strenuous at first, but

his posture got more and more firm. The Primordial Origin Sutra was

desperately taking in primordial ki from the surroundings to repair his body.

Of course, the rate of recovery couldn’t possibly match the rate he was

sustaining injuries at, but fortunately, he had the Heiress’ Ball of Delight to

keep the final sliver of his health bar hanging, so he was somehow still able

to maintain his condition, no matter how awful it was.

Mi Li’s face turned cold. She was starting to lose her temper. That fellow is

like a cockroach who simply wouldn’t be squashed! Annoying!

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +444 Rage!

It was a substantial amount of Rage points, but Zu An wasn’t happy in the

least. He had raised a flag previously that he wouldn’t get anything good for

the next three draws. So, no matter how many Rage points he earned now, it

was just going to go down the drain.

He was just impressed with himself, really. How could he still be so

calculative even when he was already on the verge of death?

Mi Li darted toward him once more as swiftly as a bolt of lightning. Zu An

swiftly gathered his strength and retaliated with his Tai’e Sword.

Bam!

Once again, Zu An was sent flying. The massive force struck his vitals

squarely, such that he would have surely died under normal circumstances.

However, Mi Li dared not to let her guard down. She kept her eyes on him

intently.

Her wariness wasn’t without reason, for Zu An shakily rose to his feet once

more right after.

“Big sis empress, harder!”

Mi Li’s face turned cold. She zapped forward once more and launched a

series of sharp stabs toward Zu An’s body.

Yet, a moment later, the bloodied Zu An struggled to his feet once more and

shouted, “Harder!”

Bam!

He was responded with yet another fatal blow.

“Big sis empress, have you not been eating at all? Ah, I forgot that you’ve

been trapped in that coffin for thousands of years.”

Bam!

“Harder!”

Bam!

…

Meanwhile, Qiao Xueying’s eyes had already been blurred with tears. She

cried for Zu An to stop provoking that demoness, but the latter simply

wouldn’t listen to her.

This torture happened for countless times before Mi Li finally stopped.

There was a complicated glint in her eyes as she said, “I must say, you

might be weak, but I’ve never seen anyone with as much willpower as you.

It’s no wonder why you were able to conquer the Tai’e Sword.”

“But it’s a pity that I’m still no match for you.” Zu An sighed deeply. While

he was still in no danger due to the effects of the Heiress’ Ball of Delight,

the absurd difference in their strength made him completely helpless before

her. He didn’t stand a chance at all.

“Forget it. Your courage and willpower has won my admiration. If it’s a

man like you… Cough cough.” Redness tinged Mi Li’s face. “Now that I

think about it, it’s not something completely unacceptable either. I’ll let you

off for now.”

After leaving behind those words, she turned around to leave. However, Zu

An immediately spoke up to stop her, “Wait a moment! You might have let

me off, but that doesn’t mean I’m letting you off. Return my wife to me!”

He knew that it was just a matter of time before Mi Li destroyed Chu

Chuyan’s persona entirely. By then, she would be really dead.

Mi Li turned around with a malicious look on her face. “Don’t test my

patience!”

The Great Qin Dynasty was known for its strict laws, and she was an

empress who stood only beneath a single man. While she wasn’t a tyrant

like Ying Zheng, she wasn’t the type of person to value the sanctity of life

either. Even if it was a close aide who had served her for many years, she

wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if the other party were to get on her bad side.

Under normal circumstances, she would have unhesitatingly sentenced Zu

An to ‘death by a thousand cuts’ for daring to offend her here. She was only

sparing him out of admiration for his strong willpower, but the latter

actually tried to climb over her head instead!

Qiao Xueying immediately tried to persuade Zu An to step down, “Ah Zu,

you’ve already tried your best. I believe Miss Chu has seen your efforts and

is thankful to you for it. There’s no need for you to persist any longer. You

can’t win here.”

In her view, it was already a miracle that Zu An was still to survive till now,

but there was only so much that a human body could take, not to mention

that he hadn’t been able to inflict the slightest damage on Mi Li thus far.

This was a completely hopeless battle, and there was no point prolonging it.

However, Zu An shook his head and said, “That’s my wife over there.

We’ve already consummated our marriage. There’s no way I can watch as

she loses her life indignantly here!”

“Very well, I’ll grant your wish then!” Mi Li was getting deeply annoyed by

now. She was born in the royal family, and the only relationship she had in

her life was with Ying Zheng. These circumstances led to her not believing

in love and whatnot. However, Zu An’s determination was shaking the

pragmatic values she had embraced thus far.

How is this woman able to acquire something that I was never able to so

easily? No, it matters not. I’ll just have to sever this bond that they share

then!

She flitted right in front of Zu An instantaneously, which spurred Zu An to

immediately raise his sword to protect himself. However, he had sustained

injuries far too grievous that even with the recovery from the Primordial

Origin Sutra, it took all he had just to barely remain standing. He was in no

condition to use his sword at all.

Mi Li flicked her finger, and the Tai’e Sword immediately flew several

meters away and stabbed right into the ground.

Following that, she wrapped her hand around his neck and sunk her long

fingernails into his skin, causing a spurt of blood that dyed her fair fingers

with a touch of seductive red.

“I can’t understand how you are able to survive thus far. It might be due to

some secret skills you possess, or a special lineage perhaps. However,

regardless of what you are, there’s no way you can survive once you lose

your head.

“I’ve been going easy on you thus far, which is why I’ve never specifically

aimed for your head. However, since you don’t know what’s good for you,

there’s no need for me to spare my grace on you any longer. I don’t believe

that you’ll be able to survive one I tear your head off!”

To be honest, Zu An was also curious as to whether the Heiress’ Ball of

Delight would be able to continue protecting him even after his head was

twisted off. If he was still alive at the end of which, how would it work?

Would his fallen head simply reattach to his body?

But what if she crushes my head like a watermelon, reducing my brain to

mush? Will I be able to come back to life with that?

Zu An’s complexion turned awful at that thought.

Noticing the subtle changes in his expressions, Mi Li sneered coldly as she

prepared herself to twist off his head. But all of a sudden, her body froze up.

“Ah Zu, kill me!”

The malicious look in Mi Li’s eyes vanished without a trace, replaced with

Chu Chuyan’s anxious expression. Her eyes were glistening with tears.

Zu An was delighted to see her. “Honey, you’ve managed to overcome

her?”

“I am only able to temporarily wrestle control back over my body from her,

but I won’t be able to last too long at this rate. Hurry up and kill me!”

exclaimed Chu Chuyan.

There was no way someone as proud as her would allow another woman to

take over her body. Just the thought of how that woman would use her body

to do that kind of stuff with other men in the future made her shudder in

disgust. She would rather die than to allow something like that to happen!

Her words made Zu An hesitate. Chu Chuyan had completely put down her

defenses, such that even Zu An, despite his severe injuries, could kill her

with ease at this very moment. However, how could he really do that?

If he was really able to accept her death, there was no way he would have

persisted for so long.

“Hurry up!” Chu Chuyan cried pleadingly.

Zu An’s complexion turned dark. He knew what was the logical decision he

ought to make here, but was this even a question that should be answered

with logic at all?

This brief moment of hesitation allowed Chu Chuyan’s body to be taken

over by the domineering Mi Li once more. “You lowly woman. How dare

you try to fight against me?”

“You’re the lowly woman here!” Chu Chuyan’s eyes regained their clarity.

Chu Chuyan’s face kept alternating to and fro between Chu Chuyan and Mi

Li, speaking to one another in completely different tones. It was really an

extremely eerie sight.

Zu An knew that he couldn’t hesitate anymore. So, he picked up the Tai’e

Sword and aimed its tip toward Chu Chuyan’s heart. As long as he pushed it

forth a little, her life would come to an end.

Seemingly knowing that Zu An wouldn’t be able to do it, Chu Chuyan

gritted her teeth, grabbed the sword with her left hand, and pulled the sword

toward her chest.

Chapter 198: Double the Happiness

“Chuyan!” exclaimed Zu An in horror.

The severity of his injuries was enough to offset any enhancements he

received from the effects of the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra, such that he

couldn’t even draw his sword back properly.

The sword pierced into her chest, and a trail of blood began seeping out.

Zu An despaired, but all of a sudden, he noticed that the sword had come to

a halt.

It turned out that her right hand also reached out to grab the sword,

desperately trying to hold it in place. Or to be more exact, it was Mi Li who

was trying to stop her from committing suicide!

It was yet another incredibly eerie side. One hand was trying to hold the

sword back whereas the other was trying to push it in, resulting in a

standstill.

Zu An found his head descending into a mess. He knew that this standstill

wouldn’t last for long. He would have to kill her now, or else she would be

overwhelmed by Mi Li soon enough.

But he really couldn’t do it!

“Is there anything I can do to save her?” Zu An racked his brain to see if

there was anything he could do, but he had only transmigrated into this

world not too long ago, so his knowledge was severely lacking. He had

already used all of the tools he could in order to deal with Mi Li.

Wait a moment, there’s something which I haven’t used yet—’Knock-You-

Up Eyes’! I still have one use of it. I nearly forgot that there’s still this skill.

However, his joy swiftly dissipated into despair. This skill still couldn’t

save Chu Chuyan. All it could do was to inflict severe pain on Mi Li,

perhaps opening a window of opportunity for him to kill her. If he really

wanted to kill Chu Chuyan, he could have done it right here, right now.

He suddenly thought about the words the man in dragon robe told him in

the seal. It seemed like he could use some sort of ‘purifying ability’ from

the Primordial Origin Sutra, but the problem was that he didn’t know how it

worked!

So far, he had only learned how to channel the primordial ki to temper his

body and recover his injuries. He hadn’t been taught anything about

purifying at all.

Then, he thought about how he was able to reconnect Chu Chuyan’s ki

meridians earlier.

Do I need to connect our bodies together in order to do the purification?

However, he soon shook off that thought. One must know that the man in

dragon robe was likely to be Ying Zheng, and regardless of how their

relationship was, it didn’t change the fact that Mi Li was his empress. Just

how messed up did he have to be to tell another man to screw his wife?

At the very least, it didn’t seem likely for Ying Zheng to have any fetish

about infidelity.

But how do I purify her then?

It was then that Zu An suddenly felt the pushing force on the sword

growing stronger and stronger. Mi Li was clearly gaining ground here. He

had to do something right away, or else it would be too late.

Forget it, I should just give it a try!

“Big sis empress, I’ve been going easy on you thus far, but it looks like I’ve

no choice now,” said Zu An.

“You’ve been going easy on me thus far?” Mi Li burst into laughter.

Even Chu Chuyan and Qiao Xueying also widened their eyes, unable to

comprehend what Zu An was intending by saying those words at a moment

like this.

Zu An sighed deeply and said, “Since you know that I’ve learned the

Primordial Origin Sutra, you should know from whom I’ve learned it too.”

“Ying Zheng!” exclaimed Mi Li in astonishment.

“Indeed. Not only has he imparted to me the Primordial Origin Sutra, but he

has also told me the way to purify you!” said Zu An.

As expected, Mi Li’s face immediately darkened. She was so shaken that

Chu Chuyan managed to garner greater control over the body, resulting in

the sword being pulled even deeper into her chest.

Alarmed, Zu An quickly pulled the sword outward with all his might.

“…” Chu Chuyan.

You have successfully trolled Chu Chuyan for +250 Rage!

This bastard! It wasn’t easy for me to find an opportunity to make a move,

but you’re foiling it right now!

“No, that’s not right. You would have done it earlier if you were able to

purify me. There’s no need for you to sustain such severe injuries at all in

the first place.” Mi Li soon found a gap in Zu An’s words.

To that, Zu An quickly replied, “What can I say? I’m a pervert. Big sis

empress, how could a pervert like me possibly be willing to kill someone as

beautiful as you?”

“…” Chu Chuyan.

“…” Mi Li.

You have successfully trolled Chu Chuyan for +333 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +333 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +256 Rage!

Zu An was quite curious as to why the Rage points he was receiving from

Chu Chuyan and Mi Li were the same.

Could it be because they’re sharing the same body? What a pity it is that

Chu Chuyan would soon die under Mi Li’s possession. If the two of them

could share consciousness, wouldn’t it be double the happiness for me?

But speaking of which, why are you joining the crowd too, Qiao Xueying?

It took a bit of effort for Zu An to shrug off his miscellaneous thoughts and

continue on, “Besides… we did have an intimate moment with one another.

I’m not as heartless as you as to be able to turn against someone whom you

were… tightly bonded with just a moment ago!”

“…” Chu Chuyan.

“…” Mi Li.

You have successfully trolled Chu Chuyan for +1024 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +1024 Rage!

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +1024 Rage!

This huge output of Rage points frightened Zu An.

What the hell! Why are they supplying me the same amount of Rage points

all at once? Heh, this means that the excuse I’m spinning up works, right?

It was then that a resounding explosion sounded.

All of them quickly turned their heads over, only to see the lake not too far

away bubbling furiously. The massive green lotus leaves had already

vanished without a trace, and the entire underground cavern began shaking

intensely. Bits of stone fragments fell to the ground from the ceiling.

“What’s going on?” asked Zu An.

“The ghosts are here,” replied Mi Li with a deep frown.

“???” Zu An.

Mi Li quickly elaborated, “Zhang Han has incited the death of the 200,000

elite soldiers of the Qin Dynasty back then. Afraid that these soldiers would

rise as vengeful spirits to exact vengeance on him, he conspired with the

Hegemon-King of Western Chu to use the lingering aura of my Soul

Suppression Seal together with the Evanescent Lotus to set up a smaller

Soul Suppression Seal to suppress those 200,000 evil spirits.”

Zu An was impressed. “Just the lingering aura of your seal is enough to

suppress over 200,000 evil spirits? My gosh! You’re even more frightening

than ghosts!”

“…” Mi Li.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +378 Rage!

“After you released the Soul Suppression Seal, the foundation of the

smaller seal that Zhang Han had set up gradually lost its effectiveness,”

replied Mi Li. “It’s all your fault! If not for your intervention, I wouldn’t

have forgotten about this. I was going to leave here as soon as possible, but

now I’m forced to deal with this trouble with you lot!”

Zu An rolled his eyes. “Are you saying that you’re afraid of those 200,000

evil spirits? I mean, those evil spirits were sealed with just the lingering

aura of your Soul Suppression Seal!”

“Of course I wouldn’t be afraid of them if I was in my peak. However, the

Red Tear of Lady Xiang has destroyed my body, and the current body I’m

using is simply too weak. I won’t be able to cope with them in my current

state.” Mi LI harrumphed coldly.

“…” Chu Chuyan.

She had been viewed as a prodigious cultivator even from a young age, an

existence who towered over the others. This was the first time that someone

had scorned her to be weak, and to make things worse, she actually couldn’t

refute it.

How maddening!

“Why are you telling me all of this?” Zu An was perplexed as to why Mi Li

was suddenly explaining all of this to him.

A commotion suddenly happened not too far away. The terracotta soldiers

had also noticed the happenings over at the lake and quickly made their way

over, but a large bunch of blue evil spirits abruptly rushed out of the lake

and swiftly engulfed the first row of the terracotta soldiers.

While Zu An was dumbfounded by the sight, Mi Li’s voice suddenly

sounded, “Why don’t we make a deal?”

Chapter 199: Life-and-Death

Contract

“What kind of deal?” asked Zu An as he gazed upon the undead army in

horror. He hadn’t even resolved the crisis with Mi Li when another disaster

began falling upon him.

It looks like I’m really doomed now.

“You should also know that everyone here will die once those vengeful evil

spirits rush out,” said Mi Li.

The intrigued Zu An asked, “Aren’t they soldiers of the Qin Dynasty before

their deaths? It’s one thing for them to hate Zhang Han, but surely you

should be able to order them as the empress of the Qin Dynasty?”

Mi Li shook her head and replied, “It’s true that they were soldiers of the

Qin Dynasty, but they died with a heart filled with hatred, and they were

sealed for a thousand years afterward. Their hatred has eroded their

sentience, turning them into vengeful spirits. All that’s left in them is

viciousness and bloodlust, and it’s in their instinct to eliminate all living

creatures before them. None of us will live once they fully escape from the

confines of that lake.”

“What kind of deal are you proposing then?” asked Zu An.

He was only able to joke around with Mi Li because she was pretty, but

there was no way he would bother entertaining these evil spirits.

“Instead of wasting your purification on me, use it to deal with those

vengeful spirits. This will be beneficial to both of us!” replied Mi Li.

Zu An was delighted. It seems like this woman really thinks that I’m able to

purify her and is afraid now.

With such thoughts in mind, his attitude became even harder. “Why should

I? You nearly caused my wife’s death. I have no reason to let you off so

easily!”

Mi Li’s face darkened as she struggled internally to come to a decision. She

took a glance over at the lake and saw that the terracotta soldiers were

gradually being pushed back. It was only a matter of time before the

vengeful spirits overwhelmed them.

After all, there was a huge difference in terms of forces. There were over

200,000 evil spirits whereas there were only around several thousand

terracotta soldiers. If not for the fact that the evil spirits weren’t able to

escape the seal all at once, the battle would have ended in an instance.

“Fine! I’ll leave your wife’s body, but you mustn’t use your purification

against me. On top of that, you must gather resources for me so that I can

reconstruct my body,” replied Mi Li grimly.

Zu An was delighted. This was the best outcome he could hope for. It

seemed like she was really frightened of the so-called purification. “Very

well, I’ll agree to your deal. Hurry up and get out of Chuyan’s body right

now!”

“Do you take me for a fool? What if you renege on your promise

afterward?” sneered Mi Li.

“What do you want me to do then? Should we seal another contract then?”

asked Zu An.

“That won’t do. There are far too many loopholes with contracts, and you

seem to be quite a despicable man. Who knows what kind of verbal traps

you have prepared for me!” rejected Mi Li right away.

“…” Zu An.

“Big sis empress, I do recall that you were the one who tampered with the

contract and reneged on our promise earlier. How in the world do you have

the cheek to raise this matter before me?”

Damn it, it angers me just to think of it!

“Ah Zu, you mustn’t accept her deal! That woman is a crafty one. She’s

definitely up to something!” exclaimed Chu Chuyan.

Qiao Xueying nodded in agreement too. “Indeed, this woman is vile. We

can’t trust her!”

“Foolish women. All is fair in war! I don’t know any of you, so it’s only

normal for me to pull some tricks. You should blame yourselves for being

foolish enough to fall into my tricks. However, things are different now that

we’re on the same boat!” Mi Li harrumphed.

Zu An was rendered speechless by Mi Li’s shamelessness. Somehow, he

felt a little offended by her words. However, he knew that he had no choice

to go along with Mi Li’s demands since he was just putting on an act right

now.

“What do you want to do then?”

Mi Li had already thought things through properly. “There are simply far

too many plausible loopholes in the contract. Let’s just simplify things and

go with a ‘Life-and-Death Contract’ instead. This way, none of us can pull

anything at all.”

“Life-and-Death Contract? What’s that?” asked Zu An in confusion.

Mi Li quickly explained, “A promise transcending life and death shall be

made; two shall age together…”

Qiao Xueying couldn’t help but interject, “How shameless. Aren’t you just

using this as an excuse to snatch Miss Chu’s husband?”

Chu Chuyan’s shocked expression showed that she had the same thoughts

in mind too.

Mi Li flew into a state of rage, bellowing, “What are you two dumb women

thinking about? Who in the world would want to snatch this scum from

you? That poem isn’t used to describe romance between a man and a

woman back then but the camaraderie shared by those in the military. As

the words suggest, it refers to a promise to die together on the battlefield

with one’s comrades in times of crisis.”

Qiao Xueying’s face reddened. “I… I mean exactly that!”

Chu Chuyan was also embarrassed by her thoughts that she didn’t notice

Qiao Xueying’s anomaly.

“This contract would seal both of our souls together. If you die, I’ll die as

well, and vice-versa. This way, we won’t have to worry about each other

doing anything contrary to our interests,” replied Mi Li. “This is the only

way I’ll feel secure enough to leave your wife’s body. Otherwise, I’ll rather

all of us go down together.”

“You want us to die together?” Zu An hesitated upon hearing those words.

He didn’t want to entrust his fate into the hands of another person.

Chu Chuyan gritted her teeth and said, “Ah Zu, don’t agree to that. Bring

Snow out of here; I’ll stall her for the time being!”

Zu An frowned upon hearing those words. Before he could say anything,

Mi Li had already interjected, “You really are a dumb woman. He would

have long run away if he’s able to abandon you! He wouldn’t have waited

till now, sustaining such severe injuries for you!

“Besides, if anyone is disadvantaged in this contract, it’s me! I haven’t even

scorned him yet, and you’re already scorning me? Do you know how

powerful I am? There are few in the world who have the ability to hurt me

whereas your man is so measly weak. I am the one who should be worried

here!”

Qiao Xueying still wasn’t willing to let this matter slide. “Hmph, who’s

scorning who? At the very least, he should be able to live till a thousand

years old, possibly higher than that once his cultivation rank goes up. It’s

his loss for tying his fate with you!”

She had shared at least 700 to 800 years of her lifespan to him through her

Half Life’s Fate, and cultivators usually had a lifespan far longer than

ordinary mortals. Living a thousand years was really a walk in the park for

him.

After she had contributed half of her lifespan to Zu An, there was no way

she would be content to see Zu An dying together with another woman.

What a huge loss it would be for her if that were to happen!

“A thousand years?” Chu Chuyan was surprised, not knowing why Snow

was saying those words. Given Zu An’s current cultivation rank, he was

still a long way off from living a thousand years.

On the other hand, Mi Li harrumphed coldly and said, “A thousand years?

Hmph! Even if he lives for two thousand, I’m still the one suffering a huge

loss here!”

Qiao Xueying and Chu Chuyan fell into silence. They knew that she was

right here, especially since she had already lived for an immeasurable

period of time in this dark underground cavern.

Zu An couldn’t resist asking, “Big sis empress, how old are you?”

“Who are you asking this question?” Mi Li rolled her eyes. “Don’t you

know that it’s rude to ask a woman for her age?”

Toward that, Zu An replied, “I have no doubt even if you say that you can

live for ten thousand years, but I reckon that you should have been sealed

down here for several thousand years now. If you’re already nearing your

final years, don’t I have much to lose by sealing this Life-and-Death

Contract with you?”

“…” Mi Li.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +777 Rage!

Qiao Xueying burst into laughter upon hearing those words. There were so

many times where Zu An drove her crazy, but it was oddly exhilarating to

see him do the same to other people.

“You brat! Stop challenging my patience!” Mi Li’s eyelids twitched as she

bellowed with gritted teeth.

“Fine, I’ll agree to your request to get into a Life-and-Death Contract with

you,” replied Zu An.

Qiao Xueying and Chu Chuyan immediately exclaimed anxiously, “Ah Zu,

you mustn’t!”

However, Zu An stopped them with a wave of his hand and said, “Don’t

worry. I don’t have much to lose by signing this contract. We need to

resolve the situation before us after all, so it wouldn’t do for us to get stuck

at an impasse here.”

Qiao Xueying and Chu Chuyan didn’t think that it was right for Zu An to

sign such a contract with Mi Li, but they knew that what he said was true.

Since he had already made up his mind, they decided to accept his decision.

As for Zu An, he knew that he was just taking Mi Li for a ride here. He was

actually desperate to sign whatever contract she said so as to tie her down,

just that he was afraid that his act would be seen through if he appeared too

enthusiastic, which was why he nonchalantly changed the subject so as to

appear relaxed.

Fortunately, his distractions worked out well, and Mi Li didn’t notice a

thing at all.

“How do we sign this ‘Life-and-Death Contract?” asked Zu An.

Mi Li raised her hand and said, “Give me a drop of your blood essence.”

“Blood essence?” Zu An scratched his head awkwardly. “Is this really

good? I mean, to take off my pants before all of you is really a bit…”

“…” Qiao Xueying.

“…” Chu Chuyan.

“…” Mi Li.

“Wash those filthy thoughts out of your mind!” bellowed Mi Li. “Blood

essence refers to the origin of your life force. It’s different from your

normal blood, and it definitely isn’t what you’re thinking of!”

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +517 Rage!

Zu An laughed sheepishly. It sure was awkward to have misinterpreted her

words in a lewd manner… though honestly, he didn’t think that he was to

be blamed for this since he did use the other type of ‘blood essence’ to fix

up Chu Chuyan’s ki meridians earlier on.

Mi Li couldn’t be bothered to waste her words with him, so she pressed her

forefinger on his forehead and pulled out a droplet of blood essence that

looked far more vibrantly crimson than ordinary blood.

Chu Chuyan was horrified. She tried to stop her, but Mi Li said, “Relax, I

won’t hurt your man.”

Zu An suddenly felt a surge of powerlessness. Fatigue far greater than

whatever he had felt before swept across his body. It would seem like losing

one’s blood essence really took a huge toll on one’s body.

“Stretch out your finger and draw the same symbols with me,” instructed

Mi Li.

“Be careful, Ah Zu!” warned Qiao Xueying.

Chu Chuyan also added, “If you sense anything amiss, stab your sword

through my heart right away.”

Zu An assured them with a smile, “Don’t worry, she isn’t able to kill me.”

He wasn’t frightened of Mi Li as long as the Heiress’ Ball of Delight was

still working.

“You’re oddly confident,” remarked Mi Li, displeased by how lightly Zu

An was taking her.

However, Zu An didn’t bother saying anything. He raised his hand and

touched the tip of Mi Li’s finger. The icy sensation felt incredibly

comfortable, and for a moment there, he wondered if this comfort was

coming from Chu Chuyan or Mi Li.

“Gather your focus!” Mi Li frowned. Zu An’s expression made her feel

incredibly uncomfortable. “Slowly draw along with me.”

Zu An replied with a nod. With the tips of their fingers linked together,

using the blood essence as ink, they drew out a profound formation in mid-

air.

Once the formation was complete, a golden light burst forth and rushed into

each of their foreheads before finally vanishing without a trace.

Zu An blinked his eyes blankly. All of a sudden, Mi Li felt far more

intimate to him, and he intuitively knew that she hadn’t been lying to him.

This contract was indeed able to make the two of them share fates.

This wasn’t a feeling conveyed through words, but a natural enlightenment

arising from the rules of the world.

Zu An suddenly thought about an incredibly important question, and he

asked, “What do you intend to do once you leave my wife’s body?”

He was eager for Mi Li to leave Chu Chuyan’s body earlier that he hadn’t

really thought about the aftermath, but now that their fates were linked

together, he began worrying that Mi Li would suddenly dissipate and die

off. That would spell his death as well.

Chapter 200: I Haven't Had

Enough Fun Yet

Mi Li lowered her head to look at his sword and said, “I’ll stay in the Tai’e

Sword for the time being.”

Zu An was surprised. “The Tai’e Sword could house people too?”

Mi Li rolled her eyes and said, “Divine weapons with the Tai’e Sword

contain a pocket of space within them. It’s fortunate that the sword spirit

has been greatly depleted, or else it wouldn’t be easy for me to slip in

easily.”

“The sword spirit has been greatly depleted?” Zu An was perplexed by

those words.

Mi Li looked at Zu An as if he was asking the obvious as she explained,

“The Tai’e Sword’s spirit suffered a heavy blow in a battle back then, and

ever since then, Ying Zheng had never used the sword ever again. However,

he felt that it would be a huge waste to abandon it, so he chose to use it as

the Soul Suppression Seal’s formation core, using it to supply energy to the

formation. Over thousands of years of having its energy extracted, the Tai’e

Sword is far more weakened than ever. Otherwise, someone of your caliber

couldn’t possibly hope to wield it. The moment you got into contact with it,

you would have already been torn into shreds by its sword ki!”

Zu An nodded in realization.

Mi Li had hinted at the great strength the Tai’e Sword wielded several times

throughout their encounter, but he hadn’t noticed anything particularly

outstanding about it while holding it in his hand. If its sword spirit was

already depleted right from the start, it would be more of like a ‘dead

sword’ that only retained a small portion of its true powers. Other than its

sharp edge and resilient blade, there was probably nothing really

noteworthy to it at the moment.

“Have your wife let go of the blade first,” said Mi Li as she watched

helplessly as the sword stabbed in and out of her chest repetitively. She

dared not to let her guard down at all, or else she might just drop dead in the

next moment.

“Chuyan, you can let go of the blade now. Everything is under control,”

said Zu An hurriedly.

Chu Chuyan hesitated for a moment before finally releasing her grip.

Mi Li began murmuring a series of obscure chants before her silhouette

began rising out of Chu Chuyan’s body before seeping into the Tai’e Sword,

which caused the sword to reverberate lightly.

Zu An could somehow sense that the sword had become a little different

from before, but he couldn’t really put his finger on how it was different.

Meanwhile, Chu Chuyan’s body suddenly fell limp and collapsed to the

side. Astonished, Zu An rushed forward to support her, “What’s wrong?”

“She just hasn’t regained full control of her body yet since I was on the

dominant side earlier. Don’t worry, she’ll be fine soon,” replied Mi Li.

“Hm? Why does your voice sound so feeble?” asked Zu An curiously.

“What else do you expect? A normal human’s soul would dissipate as soon

as it leaves its body, and I’ve already left two bodies in a row now. Isn’t it

obvious that I’m going to suffer tremendous damage from that?” replied Mi

Li hatefully.

Clearly, she was holding a grudge toward him for that.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +233 Rage!

Zu An chuckled sheepishly as he wisely chose not to incur her ire at a time

like this. He turned his attention back to the beauty in his arms and asked,

“Honey, how are you feeling?”

Chu Chuyan’s eyes slowly fluttered open. She stared at him for a moment

before her cheeks suddenly turned red, which spurred her to push him away.

Then, she awkwardly walked over to Qiao Xueying’s side to help her up.

“…” Zu An.

Why is she suddenly acting so distant? She was still so concerned about me

while Mi Li was in her body.

“Stop acting all lovey-dovey over there now. Hurry up and purify those

vengeful spirits! Otherwise, once all 200,000 of them rushes out of the lake,

all of us will be doomed!” reminded Mi Li.

“Alright!” replied Zu An decisively as he made his way toward the lake.

But barely a few steps later, his footsteps suddenly halted. He hesitantly

turned around and asked, “So, about that… how do I purify those vengeful

spirits again?”

“???” Mi Li.

Chu Chuyan and Qiao Xueying also looked at him in bewilderment. It was

the latter’s great confidence that persuaded Mi Li to leave earlier, but

judging from what he was saying now…

“You don’t know the art of purification?” Mi Li finally grasped what was

going on and asked in disbelief.

Zu An shyly replied, “I was supposed to learn it, but Ying Zheng’s soul

dissipated before he could teach me that…”

“!!!” Mi Li.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +1024!

She was really on the verge of exploding from anger. How could she have

been fooled by him into willingly inflicting such grievous damage to her

soul?!

“I’m going to mince you up!”

The Tai’e Sword reverberated sharply as it flew out of Zu An’s hands and

began chasing him around, attempting to hack off his neck.

“…” Chu Chuyan.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

They finally understood why he had chosen to accept Mi Li’s condition

despite the risks. It turned out that it was just bravado.

He sure is scheming. He doesn’t even bat an eyelid when he makes such a

blatant lie!

Meanwhile, Zu An was frantically scurrying around like a mouse as he

shouted, “We already signed the Life-and-Death Contract, so our fates are

linked to one another now! If you kill me, you’re going to die too!”

Upon hearing those words, the Tai’e Sword finally paused in mid-air. That

being said, it continued to convey Mi Li’s overflowing rage through its

intense vibration. If it was possible, she would indubitably slice Zu An

down into a thousand pieces right away, but the contract left her with no

choice but to swallow down her grievances.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for +1024 Rage!

“Shall we leave this place first? We should tide across this crisis first. You

can always settle the score with me later on,” suggested Zu An.

“…” Mi Li.

It took a long time before she finally calmed down. “ Leave? Those evil

spirits have already seen all of you and locked onto your auras. Even if you

run to the ends of the world, they’ll still track you down and kill you. You’ll

have to resolve the problem right now.”

“But I don’t know the art of purification!” cried Zu An bitterly.

“Once you cultivate the Primordial Origin Sutra to the second rank, you’ll

be able to purify any malevolent beings with your primordial ki,” replied

Mi Li.

“Second rank?” Zu An was put in a spot. “But I’m only at the first rank at

the moment.”

“You’ve been channeling the Primordial Origin Sutra all this while in order

to heal your injuries, so I reckon that you should be on the verge of a

breakthrough now. Try channeling it again to heal your wounds,” said Mi Li

with a cold harrumph.

“Alright.” Zu An began channeling the Primordial Origin Sutra, and soon,

he felt his wounds recovering swiftly.

It was then that the Tai’e Sword suddenly let out a metallic reverberation

and pierced right toward his body. Zu An focusing his attention on

recovering his wounds, so there was no way he could cope with the

unexpected attack.

Qiao Xueying and Chu Chuyan also didn’t expect Mi Li to suddenly make a

move here, so it was too late for them to stop her. They could only watch

helplessly as the Tai’e Sword pierced right into Zu An’s body.

“What are you doing?!” hollered the two women. Chu Chuyan even began

making her way forward to deal with Mi Li.

“This is necessary to raise the speed of his breakthrough. Those terracotta

soldiers are already at their limit,” replied Mi Li coldly.

Qiao Xueying and Chu Chuyan quickly turned their heads over, only to see

that the terracotta soldiers were swiftly getting overwhelmed by the evil

spirits coming out from the lake.

“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. I won’t go too far as to take his life,”

replied Mi Li as she stabbed the blade yet into another part of Zu An’s

body.

“…” Chu Chuyan.

“…” Qiao Xueying.

Zu An took in a sharp breath as he asked, “Are you sure you aren’t making

use of this opportunity to get even with me?”

“So what if I am? Do you how huge of a loss you have caused me? Just

man up and bear with it!” replied Mi Li gleefully. She did feel a bit better

after stabbing Zu An a few times.

“…” Zu An.

Wow, I didn’t think that she would admit to it so frankly.

Knowing that the situation was dire, he could only continue channeling the

Primordial Origin Sutra and pray that he would make a breakthrough as

soon as possible.

Some time later, he suddenly jolted as he felt his body growing lighter than

ever. He found himself entering a profound state of consciousness,

reminiscent of the moment right before his transmigration.

It was a dark and silent place, nothing to be seen, heard, or felt at all. No

matter how he tried to widen his eyes, there was simply nothing at all.

A while later, a brilliant light suddenly glared from the distance. He

couldn’t even begin to describe how bright that light was. He previously

thought that the sun was the greatest source of light for the world, but it was

nothing compared to what he was witnessing at this very moment.

The light swiftly spread all around, and soon, the world he was in was no

longer dark anymore.

He tried to perceive his surroundings carefully as the light had already

reached his surroundings, but before he could see anything, he had already

been jolted awake.

That earlier sight… is that the inception of the world?

Zu An was stunned. He felt that the surrounding air felt far more

refreshingly sweet than it ever had. Nourishing primordial ki began gushing

in his direction. If he had only been able to sense a small amount of

primordial ki in his surroundings no matter how he searched in the past,

right now, he no longer had to exert any effort at all. Primordial ki was

automatically drawn to him, allowing him to absorb it at a far faster speed

than before.

Chu Chuyan and Qiao Xueying saw his severe wounds recovering at a rate

visible to the eye.

“Hm, I didn’t expect you to make a breakthrough so quickly. I haven’t had

my fun yet,” remarked Mi Li regretfully.

“…” Zu An.

“Hurry up and tell me how to purify those evil spirits!” said Zu An with a

darkened face.

“Channel your primordial ki into the Tai’e Sword and slash at those evil

spirits. That would be enough to purify them,” replied Mi Li.

Qiao Xueying immediately asked, “But the battle over there is so intense.

Given his cultivation, even the slightest shockwave could easily take his

life!”

She was indeed putting light of Zu An’s strength, but everyone could tell

that she was saying those words out of concern.

Against that, Mi Li calmly replied, “He’s holding the Sword of Kingship;

those terracotta soldiers will know better than to attack him. As for those

evil spirits, the second rank primordial ki is their natural nemesis. They

won’t be able to pose a threat to him.”

Qiao Xueying’s worries were finally put to ease.

Chu Chuyan, on the other hand, had thought things out even deeper. “But

there are over 200,00 evil spirits here. If he stabs them one by one, there

won’t be an end to it.”

“Don’t worry, it won’t take too long,” replied Mi Li.

Zu An had another question to ask, “The primordial ki in this underground

palace is much more concentrated than anywhere else, but there’s still a

limit to it. On top of that, my rate of absorption is limited too. I don’t think

that my stamina will be enough to purify all 200,000 evil spirits.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Those evil spirits harness a certain

amount of primordial ki in their bodies, so you’ll be able to continue

healing up throughout the battle,” replied Mi Li. “Besides, your body is far

more resilient than you think. Your current injuries would have been

enough to kill any other cultivators ten times over.”

Zu An nodded in response, though he knew that he was only able to hang

on due to the Heiress’ Ball of Delight. Looking at the time, its effects

should be running out very soon. He still remembered the agony he went

through once the effects died out after he was struck by the Wailing Whip,

and he had no intention of going through that once more. He was

determined to heal up as much as possible before then.

So, with the Tai’e Sword in hand, he made his way over toward the lake.

Perhaps it was due to them sensing the presence of the Tai’e Sword, the

terracotta soldiers opened up a pathway for him, allowing him to quickly

arrive at the frontlines.

The sudden presence of a living being immediately spurred the aggression

of the evil spirits. As if sharks catching onto the scent of blood, they began

charging toward him with shrill shrieks.